tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91337032538631230502024-03-05T09:48:51.192-05:00Flying LessonsChristine Negroni riffs on aviation and travel and whatever else inspires her to put words to page.Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.comBlogger455125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-36223639039131216352016-07-25T18:34:00.001-04:002016-07-25T18:34:34.724-04:00FLYING LESSONS HAS MOVEDPlease visit at my new home, <a href="http://christinenegroni.com/">christinenegroni.com</a><style type="text/css">
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-49027586910543041142016-04-01T18:20:00.000-04:002016-04-07T15:06:43.782-04:00Come Fly With Me<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Recently I asked readers, what I should do to celebrate when Flying Lessons achieves one million page views. And while many people
suggested having a cocktail or going flying (not at the same time of course) I
was unknowingly, already working on the perfect celebration; taking a trip to somewhere new
and on this one I want you to come along with me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, April 1st, no foolin; this blog will be arriving in formation with my travel blog at my new website so this will be my last post at this url.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UWR-2HdIlYrR3c88ujqfpISoRcxeU_7qMG8IjjBlkoehKltrt4Z4FUrT5rJ8Jus3u1gt938Soj374pG5dHT3QLoPp3Ch-RwsNwwlCFush2qo5gpfEVCqAtZNoSRB3iNXpRIjhha94cg/s1600/TCD+final+cover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7UWR-2HdIlYrR3c88ujqfpISoRcxeU_7qMG8IjjBlkoehKltrt4Z4FUrT5rJ8Jus3u1gt938Soj374pG5dHT3QLoPp3Ch-RwsNwwlCFush2qo5gpfEVCqAtZNoSRB3iNXpRIjhha94cg/s200/TCD+final+cover.JPG" width="129" /></a><a href="http://christinenegroni.com/">christinenegroni.com</a> is beautifully designed by the mega-talented,
Portland-based, Kate McMillian of <a href="http://www.outboxonline.com/">Outbox Online</a>. The site she’s built has space for photos, videos, comments, an archive of newspaper and magazine stories
I’ve written and information about (and soon an excerpt from) my new book.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Your arrival checklist is simple. Click on “<a href="http://eepurl.com/bVoIWH">subscribe</a>”, select which blog you want to receive - you can select both blogs if you wish - and you're done. You'll be notified
each time I publish a new post.</div>
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As ever, your email address is safe. I won’t sell it
or use it to spam you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you are already receiving Flying Lessons via Feedburner
or Google Groups or any other RSS feed, that may continue, then again it may
not. Since I don’t want to lose you and I hope you don’t want to lose me, just click on "<a href="http://eepurl.com/bVoIWH">subscribe</a>", okay?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the past few years, I’ve written 499 Flying Lessons posts and
exceeded 951,000 page views. These <i>nearly-there</i> numbers remind me of the birth
of my daughter <a href="http://marianlibrarian.com/">Marian Schembari</a>. In 1987, she arrived one-minute before 3:00 am
and 1 ounce shy of 6 pounds. She’s exceeded all expectations ever since. </div>
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With
your support I have high hopes Flying Lessons will continue to soar. See you soon at <a href="http://christinenegroni.com/">christinenegroni.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-2983719894331060192016-03-22T11:05:00.002-04:002016-03-22T11:21:14.216-04:00Brussels Attack Should Prompt New Look at Airport Population<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSh98spvLmu8yztlJPJ86tN9vpPbwICZVyId8w_RSsqqIY3WLIIJFfjYDXiD4SyP_QcL9BKRNtOcDRb1JA-CIAITW5SA8ahKwCH6MclbVqjopMBarR5snFSBy383ccfinIjb4IbbjMTuA/s1600/CeIuoF1W0AAW0k2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSh98spvLmu8yztlJPJ86tN9vpPbwICZVyId8w_RSsqqIY3WLIIJFfjYDXiD4SyP_QcL9BKRNtOcDRb1JA-CIAITW5SA8ahKwCH6MclbVqjopMBarR5snFSBy383ccfinIjb4IbbjMTuA/s320/CeIuoF1W0AAW0k2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Damage at the airport in Brussels Via Twitter @infos140</i></td></tr>
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A bomb in the departure area of Brussels Airport that killed 11 people this morning is already prompting discussion about how to better secure public areas of airports.<br />
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The news site <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/03/22/brussels-airport-security/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#6rkE7kbkfZq8">Mashable</a>, is quoting Brussels-based security journalist Brooks Tigner, asking, "if [attackers] are going to
target public departures areas, what do we do?" </div>
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Other airports have already answered that question. Among those that have been pro active in protecting the assembly of air travelers is Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport, which has been closed to non travelers for years.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa</i></td></tr>
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Ticketed passengers must pass through security before even entering the terminal. Ditto for the new Terminal three in New Delhi. </div>
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Security at Indira Gandhi International Airport is so tight, even the movement of guests <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/03/delhi-aviation-authorities-hold-airport.html">at the airport hotel</a> is restricted; as in "You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave." At least not until you are headed for your departure gate.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not a lot of people at Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi Airport</i></td></tr>
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I wasn't wild about the diligence of the security guards at the check point when I entered Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport last month, but even so, Kenyan airport authorities are making the effort by keeping all but screened travelers out of the departure areas. </div>
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So it is possible to increase airport security by moving checkpoints to the front doors and/or restricting who can enter in the first place. But no traveler is an island. Commercial flying requires a hefty support structure that necessarily includes others who are not flying. </div>
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And those who cannot enter the terminal must have another place to congregate. </div>
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Waiting in line to pass through the metal detectors in Addis, I did look around at the crowd of which I was a part and wonder if we didn't make quite an attractive target.</div>
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Still, to the terrorist mind, a blast inside an airport - especially by the counter of an airline with a provocative name like "American" does pack an extra public relations wallop. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVeaWIaUMU4jnQFaVHnIbzaAf4-XQvjQsoHvBC1z4L3Rm6Z-1XIgHl9f52Djm7uPdvXDQ9_gGQTZXUkjvluCtXd5OJAuwRCVAizIzWmqrs9Z3kxmGH4EcGr4rhKYIMxJxzBwmzUenuU0/s1600/20131213_094103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVeaWIaUMU4jnQFaVHnIbzaAf4-XQvjQsoHvBC1z4L3Rm6Z-1XIgHl9f52Djm7uPdvXDQ9_gGQTZXUkjvluCtXd5OJAuwRCVAizIzWmqrs9Z3kxmGH4EcGr4rhKYIMxJxzBwmzUenuU0/s320/20131213_094103.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The monitoring station at Vienna International Airport</i></td></tr>
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And while all airports have sophisticated operations desks where trained professionals can monitor all parts of the airport both pre and post security, it would be particularly challenging to spot a suicide-vest-wearing or concealed-bomb-toting bad guy bent on mayhem. </div>
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The dust has barely settled on this latest attack. But one thing should already be evident. Because of the millions of people who fly every single day, aviation has a bull's eye on its back. It hasn't been business as usual for more than a decade and it's even more true today. </div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-21752060603946114632016-03-21T12:45:00.001-04:002016-03-30T23:07:58.095-04:00More Than Meets The Eye in Kenya Plane Spotter Arrests<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYiPDjiVC2dzDY18Db8Dj5vXqbzms9x4sy63tqrJpLHoOyotVEpFtVj3VqDFe9yURtIF_T1GHFbibd4UfVuZaZfZWdpDJ4SdDmc81ogtogFS2C-Akes53N6tdJGgYdPFvLExTtP_oSic/s1600/men+arrested+in+Kenya+Star+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYiPDjiVC2dzDY18Db8Dj5vXqbzms9x4sy63tqrJpLHoOyotVEpFtVj3VqDFe9yURtIF_T1GHFbibd4UfVuZaZfZWdpDJ4SdDmc81ogtogFS2C-Akes53N6tdJGgYdPFvLExTtP_oSic/s320/men+arrested+in+Kenya+Star+photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Men from Manchester held by Kenya photo courtesy of The Star</i></td></tr>
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There's something very strange about the news out of Nairobi
in which four British men were arrested after taking photos of airplanes at the
city's in-town airport.<o:p></o:p></div>
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According to a BBC report, the self-described plane spotters said they had permission to take photos of airplanes at Wilson Airport,
but the sight of them with their cameras caused concern among some folk who noticed
them, “from the airport bar,” and I’m quoting directly from the BBC report. </div>
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After the men were picked up at Wilson Airport they were taken to Jomo
Kenyatta International Airport on the far side of the city and incarcerated there for nine days. Stephen Gibson, 59, Ian Glover, 46,
Edwin Swift, 47 and Paul William, 47, will have to cough up $2,000 to get out of jail and out of the country
according to the Kenya Star newspaper. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxwRMRwGuykmbmp-DqBkwaycLKWdVoD-D6SRRNrIpCy5X-mc_QWKeyv6ilL7Pv1FYWMIPm7rExifMZWsRuTmCAbgY6vVprzMVAqgd-LOPB2thLnvLPUTmfGrKlWez4aUsE_uT5YAkZY8/s1600/DSC01645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxwRMRwGuykmbmp-DqBkwaycLKWdVoD-D6SRRNrIpCy5X-mc_QWKeyv6ilL7Pv1FYWMIPm7rExifMZWsRuTmCAbgY6vVprzMVAqgd-LOPB2thLnvLPUTmfGrKlWez4aUsE_uT5YAkZY8/s320/DSC01645.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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During my visit to Nairobi I roamed Wilson Airport on four occasions,
once after having a lovely lunch at the colonial-era-styled East African Aero
Club complete with photos of famous aviatrix Beryl Markham on the walls and
aviation-themed movies playing on the lobby television. I wandered around the
property including the guest houses snapping away. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Florence Wilson</i></td></tr>
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It is worth noting these days while we are doing so much
talking about women in aviation, that Wilson Airport, was named after Florence
Wilson, a British widow and heiress who invested in an airline in the twenties
with her lover, the pilot Thomas Campbell Black. </div>
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While Campbell didn’t treat Wilson like
a lady, (he left her, the story goes for Beryl Markham), even after he was gone,
the business thrived. In 1939, however, the British government absorbed
Ms. Wilson’s fleet along with the flying school into its Kenya Auxiliary Air Unit. In 1962, shortly before becoming the independent nation of Kenya, the airfield was renamed to honor Florence Wilson. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOyuO51f1z_cbOx9xpG7FRvGE8edsOta1sl4aDyKBWeI4mytoQkVgaFReh9ckvhkkFLl3NNjJv5P0Bqf2qjxbrz2PhkcUmZyOLyn5pE7r1m2j-yWQIwzAYjP9MjFlpurIX2SDGXLLRu8/s1600/DSC01791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOyuO51f1z_cbOx9xpG7FRvGE8edsOta1sl4aDyKBWeI4mytoQkVgaFReh9ckvhkkFLl3NNjJv5P0Bqf2qjxbrz2PhkcUmZyOLyn5pE7r1m2j-yWQIwzAYjP9MjFlpurIX2SDGXLLRu8/s320/DSC01791.JPG" width="263" /></a>In February I transited through Wilson airport several times
as I changed planes en route to Keyna’s famed wildlife parks; Amboseli and Maasa
Mara. I took photos from inside the airport and out and from inside my airplane
and out and I was far from the only one with a camera.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I recorded 5Y-IHO the DeHavilland Dash-8 and ET-AMV, the
Cessna Caravan, both of which are being used by the United Nations World Food
Program. 5Y-FDK the Phoenix Aviation’s King Air used by the Flying Doctor Service
and the arrival of a fancy business jet from which emerged several men acting
important and tailed by an entourage of what seemed to be journalists. Helicopter
touch-and-gos, pilot pre flights, security screenings, I shot it all without seeing
a raised eyebrow.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Kenya is justifiably cautious as it faces a terrorism threat with
Somali violence on its eastern border. I don’t know what about this particular
band of Brits made them more threatening to the authorities than other camera-wielding
travelers. But my photos show there’s more to this story than what meets the
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Beautiful hangar at Wilson Airport</i></td></tr>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-11721765512622488572016-03-11T10:51:00.003-05:002016-03-11T12:22:35.116-05:00United Makes Peace by Reinstating Fired Crew, Qatar Not So Much<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Two stories with big consequences for the participants and lessons for the rest of us were in the news this week. After years of fighting their firing for expressing concern about the security of their aircraft, 13 United flight attendants have been reinstated. <br />
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<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/01/defying-decades-of-safety-improvements.html">You may recall from a previous post on my blog,</a> that in the summer of 2014, the cabin crew on a flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, grew concerned about disturbing graffiti on the tail of their Boeing 747. Drawn in the grease were two faces and the words "bye bye".<br />
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The airlines operations staff dismissed the drawing as a benign prank - not a security issue and tried to dispatch the plane. The cabin crew was less sanguine. Malaysia Flight 370 had disappeared without a trace just four months earlier justifying - to them at least - their edginess.</div>
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The impasse came from the flight attendants' request that the jumbo jet be searched along with all the baggage and the passengers and the manager's order that they shut up and fly the trip. Things spiraled from bad to worse until the flight attendants were shown the door for insubordination.</div>
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Now, after nearly two years, a Federal whistle blower lawsuit and what I'm assuming are some sizable legal bills on both sides, the airline has agreed to reinstate the cabin staff. </div>
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"We welcome these flight attendants back to our team," said the airline's senior executive in charge of inflight services, Sam Risoli. And even though it didn't seem that way when the incident first happened, Risoli made the point in a press release that its employees were encouraged to "raise concerns in good
faith about the safety or security of our operations."<br />
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This story was big at the time. General news interest focused on the odd decision to chasten workers for concerns about a flight's safety.<br />
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Within the industry, the airline's mishandling of basic crew communication raised eyebrows and questions about the effectiveness of crew resource management and United's commitment to a safety management system in which everyone contributes. One must take the airline at its word that the case of the fired flight attendants has prompted some soul searching. </div>
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The whistle blower protections under which the workers sued have at the center the best interests of the passenger operations, they are "essential" according to David Marshall, the lawyer representing the flight attendants. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The B-777 that hit runway lights at Miami International in 2015</i></td></tr>
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Making peace and moving on as they seem to have done at United is unlikely to happen at Qatar, however. The pilots recently fired by the Gulf carrier's bombastic boss, Akbar al Baker, can't count on American employment protections or, it would seem, the industry's well-established "just culture" to help them get their jobs back. </div>
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Last fall, the flight crew of a Boeing 777 departing Miami International Airport entered the runway at an intersection 3,200 feet ahead of where they ought to be and started the takeoff roll. It was not until the pilots saw the end of the runway approaching too soon that they realized something was wrong. The captain opted to take off and was unaware that the aircraft actually hit the lights indicating the runway end. Damage to the plane's underside told the story when the flight landed in Doha. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Damage to the plane and to the runway light. DCAA photo</i></td></tr>
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You can read the preliminary report from Qatar's Civil Aviation Authority <a href="http://www.caa.gov.qa/sites/default/files/Preliminary%20report%20QR778%20Miami_v3.pdf">here</a>, to see all the factors that came into play that night but of course there were many. </div>
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What's horrifying about the case is the statement of al Baker in announcing the sacking of his pilots. </div>
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"We will not accept any kind of lapses by pilots," he said. Al Baker must have missed the first page of the QCAA's report which states, as most civilized government aviation agencies do, that the purpose of an investigation is to prevent them in the future. It would be inappropriate "to
assign fault or blame" the report reads.</div>
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It's more than inappropriate to expect punishment to prevent errors, it is dangerous. Unintentional acts provide clues to underlying problems that go farther than a simple mistake. This is a lesson that goes back to the days of the Comet (which you will read about in my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Crash-Detectives-Investigating-Mysterious-ebook/dp/B01BD1SSBM">soon-to-be-published book The Crash Detectives</a>).<br />
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When pilots repeatedly make the same mistake, it “must be
presumed to be too easily possible,” the wise writers at Aeroplane Magazine wrote back in 1953. The wise airline executive of the 21st Century surely recognizes there are lessons to be learned from errors that can be used to improve aviation safety. United just showed how it can be done. Qatar are you listening? </div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-13886372464294017292016-03-05T21:22:00.001-05:002016-03-05T21:22:45.382-05:00Quest For More From CNN From MH-370Full disclosure: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Detectives-Investigating-Mysterious-Disasters-ebook/dp/B01BD1SSBM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457229403&sr=1-1&keywords=%22the+crash+detectives%22">The Crash Detectives</a>, my own book on the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, will be published by Penguin in September. This may have colored my perception of Richard Quest's new book, <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318827/the-vanishing-of-flight-mh370-by-richard-quest/9780425283011/">The Vanishing of Flight 370</a>. Then again, maybe it <i>really is</i> a rehash of CNN's original undisciplined coverage.<br />
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Quest, CNN's business correspondent, is well known for his out-sized personality and his "say anything" interview style. But in the book he has produced for Penguin Berkley and timed to the second anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia 370, all his insouciant charm is gone. Without that, Quest's demonstrated ego wears thin long before the reader gets to the book's vanity snapshots section.<br />
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The photo inset features Quest with Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak, (2 of these) Quest with Malaysia defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Quest with Malaysia's aviation boss Dato Sri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Quest with MH-370 passenger advocate Sarah Bajc, Quest with fellow CNN staffers; Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo and best of all Quest with MH-370 pilot Fariq Hamid. </div>
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Wait a minute, Quest with <i>Fariq Hamid</i>?<br />
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Why yes. The most interesting tidbit in Quest's retelling of the MH-370 story and CNN's coverage of it is that sixteen days before the Boeing 777 inexplicably flew into the South Indian Ocean, Quest and a CNN camera crew were in the cockpit of a Malaysia Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur. Astonishingly, the pilot in the right seat on that flight was 27-year old Fariq Hamid, who very shortly would be the first officer of MH-370. </div>
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No one knew of course what was soon in store for poor Fariq and the 238 others on MH-370, but credit Quest with recognizing that allowing a television crew into the cockpit might have not have been the best idea considering that young Fariq was still receiving initial operating experience on the triple 7. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fariq with Quest in a cell phone selfie. Photo courtesy Richard Quest</i></td></tr>
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"I wanted the footage badly, but I also knew I didn't want an incident on my hands," Quest writes. "So I gingerly asked Captain Liu whether it was wise for us to be putting Hamid under more stress by filming his landing the plane. My hope was that Liu would decide to land the aircraft himself."</div>
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But it was no deal. Fariq did the landing at Kuala Lumpur. Quest got his footage and afterwards the reporter posed with Fariq for a selfie on the pilot's cell phone.<br />
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This is a weird coincidence of which I was not aware until Quest's book arrived on my doorstep last month, I probably missed it because when I was in Malaysia working for ABC News, I rarely saw CNN's coverage.<br />
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What I do know about how CNN handled the disappearance of MH-370 comes mostly from the eye-rolling of fellow journalists and aviation geeks.<br />
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If I missed anything else significant, Quest's book presents a near play-by-play of the action at the Atlanta-based news network.<br />
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What many saw as CNN's non-stop, talking-head-heavy obsession with every non-development was "the antithesis of the era of prepackaged, formulaic news coverage," according to Quest. "It was why twenty-four-hour news had been invented," he writes. "Here the viewer was being invited to see firsthand the process by which raw news is analyzed and brought into perspective."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The plane that flew as MH-370 Photo by Jay Davis</i></td></tr>
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Right about now, you are wondering why I meandered from the ostensible subject of the book - MH-370 - to bring up CNN's coverage. Well, that's because the author takes a similarly bifurcated path. While the book purports to be about the disappearance of the plane, "<i>The True Story of the Hunt for the Missing Malaysian Plane</i>" is the subtitle, Quest's book is equal parts a retelling of what we've learned over the past two years and a justification of the way CNN went all out to "own the story."<br />
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Unfortunately for the reader, Quest does not present anything new or make a convincing argument why it is a good thing for a news network to abandon coverage of all other world events to pay obsessive attention to just one.<br />
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So Quest's book disappoints on a number of levels, but one slip up is most telling, especially coming from a reporter as well-versed in the aviation industry as Quest unarguably is.<br />
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Before MH-370, Quest claims "No commercial plane that had ever crashed did so without leaving a trace."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pan Am's Hawaii Clipper before it mysteriously disappeared in July 1938 Univ of Miami photo</i></td></tr>
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In fact, over the past century, a number of flights have vanished never to be seen again. There's the loss of the Hawaii Clipper in July 1938 and the mysterious disappearance of an Indonesian commuter flight in 1995 and a half a dozen others in between.<br />
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Any book that professes to be the "true story," ought not to include such a demonstrably false statement especially when the author has the reporting strength of an entire news network on which he can rely. <br />
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-60133319427514445452016-02-12T15:19:00.003-05:002016-02-12T21:10:06.695-05:00Nick Tramontano; An Aviator's Legacy of Kindness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Consider this quote from Irish aviation executive Willie
Walsh talking about the boss of a competing airline, Virgin's Richard Branson.
"I don't like him, I don't admire him, I don't buy his bullshit." Or
consider Michael O'Leary of Ireland's Ryanair, "I don't give a shit
if no one likes me. I'm not a cloud bunny or an aerosexual. I don't like
aeroplanes. I never wanted to be a pilot like those other platoons of goons who
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The world of aviation is full of arrogant, combative
individuals who may be providing a service to a world growing ever more reliant
on air travel. But they are at the same time helping the industry’s descent to
ever-lower levels of respect.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUv9KU4qEx3fcPvtzH4syyEHThyva-MEi1T724h8ZCoZW3qR3bq1wNlyiQn2j7geQeCCDQN_dyaLUiMJuXcyNLubodcfQusquhwlRtbj_sK6dJbdnHBh12I7ZHozPTEnqxwLQE5CfGpXg/s1600/Twin+beechcraft+with+Nick+Tramontano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUv9KU4qEx3fcPvtzH4syyEHThyva-MEi1T724h8ZCoZW3qR3bq1wNlyiQn2j7geQeCCDQN_dyaLUiMJuXcyNLubodcfQusquhwlRtbj_sK6dJbdnHBh12I7ZHozPTEnqxwLQE5CfGpXg/s320/Twin+beechcraft+with+Nick+Tramontano.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then consider Nick Tramontano, who, along with his long-time friend, retired Sikorsky president Jeffrey Pino, died in a crash on Feb 5th in Arizona. He was a class act.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Called the “Mayor” of Connecticut’s Oxford Waterbury Airport
by the airport’s actual manager, Matthew Kelly, no one has anything but nice
things to say about Nick. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“He was wonderful,” Kelly told me. “You always left a conversation
with him, with a smile.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I met Tramontano last summer while working on my book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Crash-Detectives-Investigating-Mysterious-ebook/dp/B01BD1SSBM">The Crash Detectives</a></i> which will be published by Penguin in September. I had a
theory related the crash in Northern Rhodesia that killed UN Secretary General
Dag Hammarskjold and 15 others. The accident has been the subject of many investigations
since 1961 and remains clouded in uncertainty. I wanted to suss out whether a mechanical
malfunction on the DC-6 might have played a role.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Talk to Nick Tramontano”, more than one person advised me. “He
is such a wealth of knowledge” pilot and plane builder David Paqua told me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And so I did. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtA3FqIPGedGcTuKG1jZWHJ4g61MNdu94pSlcO1vp8AibLQlAMR-g6WUNy9mNQg-ixKndy7dS0JNHV2fv5lAPhO9E4g5gHrU80Zp3GGARdzxbhH64d-UuOJ0MbtsDzAvOY5ZT-5rt-5k/s1600/DC-3+at+Oxford+with+tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtA3FqIPGedGcTuKG1jZWHJ4g61MNdu94pSlcO1vp8AibLQlAMR-g6WUNy9mNQg-ixKndy7dS0JNHV2fv5lAPhO9E4g5gHrU80Zp3GGARdzxbhH64d-UuOJ0MbtsDzAvOY5ZT-5rt-5k/s200/DC-3+at+Oxford+with+tower.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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It was late August and what was supposed to be an hour
interview turned into a half a day. We toured the airport and a crawled around
inside the DC-3 he maintains for Tradewinds Aviation. We had lunch and the
interview morphed into the beginning of a friendship. <o:p></o:p></div>
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During our time together, two teens came into the hangar
where Nick keeps his beautiful silver Twin Beech. Garrett Fleishman, then 16
and a student pilot wanted to show the plane to his younger brother, Zach. Then he
asked to go to another hanger to show Zach something else.</div>
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“I would go play with you,” Nick told the two after tossing
them the keys, “but we got business here.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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I had no doubt then that the 73-year old would have eagerly
spent the day with the kids and enjoyed it as if he too were just starting a
life in aviation. In fact, Tramontano had a half century both flying planes and
fixing them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Anything you wanted to know about war bird aircraft and
radial engines, he was a master at the radial engine,” Paqua said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tramontano started as a mechanic, his friend and former co-worker
Ken Kahn told me, but in 1967 became a pilot. Tramontano and Kahn worked
together at Seaboard Airlines, now a part of Fed Ex. “Everybody gets experience
but not everybody gets good judgment. He had good judgment about operating an
airplane,” Kahn said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCVd8v8E-4aDC8KPC0gtTq3gfXuQ0pQI9cUlI-HG2TQhgSFF0o_BP9-GtcUuQZ2I1V9QHxYMj3DPfuzBvawQ384SdqB7qppTqnkb5SWgqzintagg7L2XQGejilGPLNbVsKpAeKWylK4I/s1600/Big+beautiful+doll+at+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkCVd8v8E-4aDC8KPC0gtTq3gfXuQ0pQI9cUlI-HG2TQhgSFF0o_BP9-GtcUuQZ2I1V9QHxYMj3DPfuzBvawQ384SdqB7qppTqnkb5SWgqzintagg7L2XQGejilGPLNbVsKpAeKWylK4I/s320/Big+beautiful+doll+at+night.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Photo of Pino's P-51 with permission by </i></span><span style="background-color: #f0f9ff; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Curtis Fowles</i></span></a><span style="font-family: "times"; font-size: 13.68px;"> </span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Last Friday night, Garrett’s phone rang as his boss at
Tradewinds called with the news that Nick and Pino had been killed in the crash of the
P-51 Big Beautiful Doll in Arizona. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“I was in shock I didn’t believe it at first,” Garrett said. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A few weeks earlier he and Nick had flown to Florida in a
1948 Cessna tail dragger. “It’s slower than a car,” Garrett told me. It was one
of many flights they’d made together in many different aircraft. The two had
lots of time to talk. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“He would say, ‘Don’t do this, I’ve lost friends, don’t do that’.”
If it sounds in the telling that the older pilot was lecturing the younger,
that’s not how Garrett heard it. He welcomed the advice telling me, “I learned
more visiting his hangar in an hour than in 2 months at school.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcj7N3svuU4IPEnU8ERypfVvAcfpn1zr0EoHYmsQvamXqDc-Fg8b-OuiQ-460tvdtukweqndNQ7rX7MUcOfmehV5SPMUn1YYiBAIT3Jy5Hk848t1E9MsfF66YRn7O-0WBqYqVgKb0CSHU/s1600/Garrett+and+Nick+Tramontano-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcj7N3svuU4IPEnU8ERypfVvAcfpn1zr0EoHYmsQvamXqDc-Fg8b-OuiQ-460tvdtukweqndNQ7rX7MUcOfmehV5SPMUn1YYiBAIT3Jy5Hk848t1E9MsfF66YRn7O-0WBqYqVgKb0CSHU/s320/Garrett+and+Nick+Tramontano-001.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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On September 20, 2015, Garrett’s 17<sup>th</sup> birthday, he
got his private pilot’s license; credit going to his instructors at the <a href="http://www.oxfordflyingclub.com/home.htm">Oxford Flying Club</a>. But
outside of his official lessons, there was Tramontano.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I’ve learned a lot of things,” Garrett said, including how
big is the responsibility of aviators. “You can impact or hurt a lot of people,”
he told me. “It’s a big deal.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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In an email, Fed Ex pilot Ed Ruhl, another friend of
Tramontano wrote that with his death, “There’s a hole in the world.” To those who knew him that’s undeniably true. </div>
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But if you look at Garrett Fleishman, you will see Nick’s contribution was bigger than
any hole left with his passing because he set such a good example for the next
generation. At a time when it is sorely needed, Nick
Tramontano left a legacy of responsibility, civility and kindness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-23250864132122452312016-02-11T13:30:00.003-05:002016-02-11T13:30:31.416-05:00FAA Funding Collides With ATC Overhaul and Airplane Fire Threats <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYMWJ7w3QDQn5e6_ag0MCO4-z7zLQzweCfSbEtTYUEgX2wybl15Y0Vp7tQtyEphudQtPoJPVJ_v1fBek0rgDXNHkGOmRR46aQPxuz1C_FmZJrNRoqPXIRTY5P7SRa1bbObMqLVWIx1z0/s1600/P1020291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYMWJ7w3QDQn5e6_ag0MCO4-z7zLQzweCfSbEtTYUEgX2wybl15Y0Vp7tQtyEphudQtPoJPVJ_v1fBek0rgDXNHkGOmRR46aQPxuz1C_FmZJrNRoqPXIRTY5P7SRa1bbObMqLVWIx1z0/s320/P1020291.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The public has sporadic interest in air travel news; seat size and ticket prices get attention, as do stories of <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2010/08/blond-baby-faced-poster-boy-for-whats.html">badly-behaving flight attendants</a>. But two issues being debated in Washington deserve some
thought for their significance as safety issues with wide-reaching
impact. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation
Administration issued <a href="https://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2016/SAFO16001.pdf">yet another warning</a> about the danger of carrying lithium
ion batteries on airplanes. This was ostensibly timed to coordinate with Florida Senator
Bill Nelson's new proposed legislation to ban shipping lithium ion batteries in bulk as cargo on
passenger flights.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOi2PJzmnXrX3LCXM3w4UEAZ9Un1_33EZQ_EcueVOv9JyuYwLfVlYF-9VsdGtFvkYZGX543oahVTciRLXApBVBCpF56OkwFOpnIMmzg0M2w7W2npvSODsG2JSsAfNZLhWx9uRXf9rvbaY/s1600/FAA+battery+fire.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOi2PJzmnXrX3LCXM3w4UEAZ9Un1_33EZQ_EcueVOv9JyuYwLfVlYF-9VsdGtFvkYZGX543oahVTciRLXApBVBCpF56OkwFOpnIMmzg0M2w7W2npvSODsG2JSsAfNZLhWx9uRXf9rvbaY/s320/FAA+battery+fire.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board have been
warning for years that lithium ion batteries harbor a trifecta of threats; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">they are a source of ignition,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">they provide their own fire fuel</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">they can create explosions as well as producing toxic gases</span></li>
</ul>
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<u1:p></u1:p><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“If FAA testing has found that fires or
explosions caused by lithium-ion batteries can lead to a catastrophic loss of
an airplane, then why on earth would anyone want to prohibit safety
regulators from banning large shipments of these batteries on passenger
airliners?” the senator said in a press release accompanying his proposal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In fact, that <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/45b3b5df-d01e-4849-b23e-73e933d3e473/AF46D4795E0E51FFC4EA353AC438153B.faa-lithium-ion-battery-bill.pdf">Nelson’s bill</a> is an attempt to bust through precisely
that; a legislative ban on what the FAA can do to ensure passenger flights are not brought down by lithium ion battery fires as several cargo flights have been. (It is a subject for another day why we care more about passenger flights than cargo flights that can just as easily crash into residential neighborhoods, as El Al Flight 1862 did in Amsterdam in 1992.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In 2012, U.S. lawmakers acted to prevent the FAA
from taking any action more restrictive than what International Civil Aviation Organization does. Since at this point
ICAO deals with lithium metal (non rechargable) but not lithium ion batteries, (the kind in all your electronic gadgets). The effect is that FAA’s attempts
to go farther to prevent a battery-initiated disaster have been thwarted. If it sounds incredible,
that’s because it is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs1BN3nJ6brRAOKsgyB_2Up0RCuRPCGvcNjyJu3_B4QNNT99llXsRPAW6FcVCyTjnCuJf7cAXZdaz-i2VolCayrO5hN8SVw7zWiCiq4f36KtpYoHVZ2CJORI2K9-qnZxzmBpAZdaqOGs/s1600/Russell+Crowe+on+lithium+ion.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDs1BN3nJ6brRAOKsgyB_2Up0RCuRPCGvcNjyJu3_B4QNNT99llXsRPAW6FcVCyTjnCuJf7cAXZdaz-i2VolCayrO5hN8SVw7zWiCiq4f36KtpYoHVZ2CJORI2K9-qnZxzmBpAZdaqOGs/s320/Russell+Crowe+on+lithium+ion.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">So far airline attempts to deal with the threat have been piecemeal. Just in time for the
holiday gift-giving season many airlines at the urging of the <a href="http://www.iata.org/publications/Documents/lithium%20battery-risk-mitigation-guidance-for-operators-1st-ed.pdf">International Air Transport Association</a>, prohibited travelers from carrying hoverboards and their large lithium ion batteries onto planes, a decision that caused the actor Russell Crowe to tweet
his outrage when he and his children could not board a Virgin Australia flight six weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Still, when the federal bureaucrats get active to fix a threat and
lawmakers obstruct, one can only shake one’s head in bewilderment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It gives me little confidence in the
outcome of the second subject being discussed in Washington, the privatization
of the nation’s air traffic control system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxjiQ2A7xZuBuLd32t5Wc_vhbIm8wJzVRtyWCblIBWRjt7b-fdD9PfgNC9eFX7qUOiyCZ6vr-wb8_goxX-A3NpxPR4P7-BTj6IKfH7R_rYbj9ogbtBe_xN0fhhyGrBQthyy8wgf6vaKc/s1600/LaGuardia+%252811%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxjiQ2A7xZuBuLd32t5Wc_vhbIm8wJzVRtyWCblIBWRjt7b-fdD9PfgNC9eFX7qUOiyCZ6vr-wb8_goxX-A3NpxPR4P7-BTj6IKfH7R_rYbj9ogbtBe_xN0fhhyGrBQthyy8wgf6vaKc/s320/LaGuardia+%252811%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This is a hugely complex subject with long-reaching consequences I won't
pretend to suggest I can foresee. Though the public debate ought to boil down to this
question, “Who can better handle safely separating airplanes with the emerging
21st Century technology?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Instead all parties are talking about who will own the infrastructure and how will it affect the fees airlines and private aviators pay. Airlines 4 America, a national trade association that, not
surprisingly, is a proponent of business sees switching air traffic control from
the government to a not-for-profit company not yet
identified, as all upside. So does the controller's union, National Air Traffic
Controllers Association. Delta Air Lines and Air Line Pilots Association
oppose it, as does the business aviation community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kzImOZbDKTW0J4LvC90O014bADATuEe304y4bFnIccd0JPp_1T2S32ITAbqds-SZc_-h0IAoHP1GdpepTNHaAwD-fYv-T_GUQqykf-oOxp6iq9e6kAJXesWfMKErs77ZQsUrT2M3f5k/s1600/P1080957.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_kzImOZbDKTW0J4LvC90O014bADATuEe304y4bFnIccd0JPp_1T2S32ITAbqds-SZc_-h0IAoHP1GdpepTNHaAwD-fYv-T_GUQqykf-oOxp6iq9e6kAJXesWfMKErs77ZQsUrT2M3f5k/s320/P1080957.JPG" width="267" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Concerns about the FAA's inability to
oversee and implement new airspace technology, and a shortage of trained
controllers are long standing problems. Still, I find it hard to imagine that a
private company governed by a board of industry insiders is going to be any swifter
off the mark to deal with these challenges. In fact, it seems distancing this
essential service from the accountability of the FAA could worsen
the situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">As I waffle, I am certain of one thing, rough
air is ahead and we’ll all need to pay attention to successfully navigate
through it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-53619313034155279382016-01-28T12:42:00.004-05:002016-01-29T11:26:55.201-05:00Note to Allegiant: Emergency Landings Are Not the Problem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBI77miIQKDUnPRfx4mmgyRA4Cba71nrEe0canTfaPXF72lEuZklspntbQbxQLgaaQm_jsswbB0-dA0C6SnmKRKEKed8h9csREwys3WXhJsqiks03AsRP9R9moTffQyMg3Cm9rvWz_Vs/s1600/narita+%2528106%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBI77miIQKDUnPRfx4mmgyRA4Cba71nrEe0canTfaPXF72lEuZklspntbQbxQLgaaQm_jsswbB0-dA0C6SnmKRKEKed8h9csREwys3WXhJsqiks03AsRP9R9moTffQyMg3Cm9rvWz_Vs/s320/narita+%2528106%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently a friend asked me what airlines were the
safest to fly. I get asked that question all the time. I find the question challenging in part because of the chasm between risk and perceived risk. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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For example, most air travelers will
admit to some anxiety about the safety of their flight, but few worry much
about the taxi in which they are speeding to the airport. Travelers are also treated to end-of-the-year news reports
about the world’s most dangerous airlines based on fatalities.
That’s a false relationship as <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2012/12/fatality-statistics-meaningless-as.html" target="_blank">I’ve reported before</a>.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometimes, however, it is obvious what airlines to avoid. I
was reminded of that today when I read the latest in the ongoing saga of
America’s low cost carrier Allegiant. According to <a href="http://times_levesque/" target="_blank">William Levesque</a> in the
Tampa Bay Times, a group of investors in the airline are <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/airlines/investment-group-calls-on-allegiant-air-to-form-safety-committee/2263065" target="_blank">calling for Allegiant to create a special safety committee</a> after a number of emergency landings and
maintenance problems that have plagued the airline. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VZe17g55x39Tu0vfDTAmVIByDiqXUkqXgPVnV5eWOFPTTVDuznuscwF_tZe0IPeMEO8pL2ReNuyrmNHBvwV-KpwVexguiucT-JX1OsE5n-BkHj8LPPK5hlTPQvFDJdk1w37-cKJk_rs/s1600/allegiant+Bryan+Dougherty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VZe17g55x39Tu0vfDTAmVIByDiqXUkqXgPVnV5eWOFPTTVDuznuscwF_tZe0IPeMEO8pL2ReNuyrmNHBvwV-KpwVexguiucT-JX1OsE5n-BkHj8LPPK5hlTPQvFDJdk1w37-cKJk_rs/s320/allegiant+Bryan+Dougherty.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Evacuation photo from passenger <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 14px; text-align: start;">Bryan Dougherty</span></span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Let’s be clear, emergency landings are not the problem, they
are a symptom. One does not want airlines to put pressure on pilots to avoid
them. That seems to have happened in the case of Capt. Jason Kinzer, who was
fired by Allegiant after an emergency landing at St. Pete Clearwater International
Airport in June 2015. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Kinzer had smoke in the cabin and a report from the airport
fire department of smoke from the engine that did not dissipate in the cabin
even after the engine was shut down. He opted to evacuate the 141 people on board
the MD-80 via the door slides and in the process two people were injured.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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According to an interview and copy of the termination letter
Capt. Kinzer gave to <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/pilot-sues-allegiant-malicious-firing-emergency-evacuation/story?id=35165366">ABC News</a>, Allegiant found the evacuation unwarranted and said
that he failed to preserve the company assets. Emergency evacuations can be expensive. The public relations
hit is equally costly.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepEk5FfgYgiau4nPBllKE_lUN_-cVLxot7l4PNAXJkYX1dgYY6rOAIuozXDijY0iuW_mM3dz7mqVQrOPKEFb8cUDlnl4eaZcejYQ_pr-Nu94AHPv-HaUN7r3m6xGpYQqTCoxG-964s7c/s1600/Blueangelsformationpd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjepEk5FfgYgiau4nPBllKE_lUN_-cVLxot7l4PNAXJkYX1dgYY6rOAIuozXDijY0iuW_mM3dz7mqVQrOPKEFb8cUDlnl4eaZcejYQ_pr-Nu94AHPv-HaUN7r3m6xGpYQqTCoxG-964s7c/s320/Blueangelsformationpd.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fargo had a TFR for Blue Angels show rehearsal</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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One month later, the crew on Allegiant Flight 426 declared a
fuel emergency while trying to land at Fargo’s Hector International Airport
after a flying from its home airport in Las Vegas. The Fargo runway was
temporarily closed for a Blue Angel air show rehearsal, something Allegiant and
every other operator had been informed of for months. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In his story, Levesque reported it as the “strangest in a
string of emergency landings” but it got even more bizarre when news broke that
the pilots in command of the flight were Allegiant’s vice president of
operations and its director of flight safety. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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An unidentified Allegiant pilot told the <a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/allegiant-air-execs-controls-flight-landed-low-fuel" target="_blank">Las Vegas Review</a>’s,
<a href="http://rickvelotta/" target="_blank">Richard Velotta</a>, that one of the two management pilots had been an advocate for
flights “operating with minimal fuel reserves.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAXVQMNcHtMBQCtJ4xMC1U0-GAAe8UutNF4MUL85kWdn1QaJtwfciNHpy6-_nVwQpsuX2O9KbTLlM0D2m-h-yp_EKIiCOPiz7VWEKfUVkERR-W-LRy-VVou5tGTJ22zTRj94cpYfnCCU/s1600/P1080804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAXVQMNcHtMBQCtJ4xMC1U0-GAAe8UutNF4MUL85kWdn1QaJtwfciNHpy6-_nVwQpsuX2O9KbTLlM0D2m-h-yp_EKIiCOPiz7VWEKfUVkERR-W-LRy-VVou5tGTJ22zTRj94cpYfnCCU/s320/P1080804.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An Allegiant 757 in Honolulu</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m no advocate of pilot bashing. Surely many things played
a role in Flight 426 from its fuel load to its delay on departure to the lack
of knowledge of the temporary flight restriction by the pilots or the dispatch
office. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Last summer, while all this news was breaking, I received a
call from a mechanic who had observed an engine replacement on an Allegiant
airplane that had been stranded at a remote airport after the engine failed on
takeoff. The replacement was tagged as inspected, and was ostensibly ready to
be put on the MD-80 but when he saw it, my contact was flabbergasted by its
condition.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It looked as if it had been sitting in a field,” he said. When
mechanics began the work, major parts were missing. “Everything about that
engine change was just sketchy,” my source told me. “I completely appreciate
that different companies do things different ways and level of quality is not
always going to be synchronous, but it was a shit show.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9iekydz87IB8PCf7Z80Jb-rV6kw51C1hvivmGF7BHztjWuJgzCzzZhfmS9dp4beeca5D2_iGfzhLTHi_nOnb41UJtbVnVN4w4GIEx3IY7RnTcYZ7aGlgDjX_RyACkriY5VFrA4JY26k/s1600/P1080948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb9iekydz87IB8PCf7Z80Jb-rV6kw51C1hvivmGF7BHztjWuJgzCzzZhfmS9dp4beeca5D2_iGfzhLTHi_nOnb41UJtbVnVN4w4GIEx3IY7RnTcYZ7aGlgDjX_RyACkriY5VFrA4JY26k/s320/P1080948.JPG" width="320" /></a>By all those surveys that rank airline safety by number of
fatalities, Allegiant looks good. Since its start in 1998, it has not had a
fatal accident. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the markers for disaster are not to be found in
accidents so much as in incidents and in the way an airline handles them. Are
pilots second-guessed? Are safety margins squeezed? Is <i>getting by</i> considered
good enough? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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When the answers to those questions are yes, my friend, buy a ticket on
other airline. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<i>Note: A reader of my blog reminds me of <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/airlines/former-allegiant-air-mechanic-says-he-quit-over-obscene-maintenance/2260591">this story</a> which appeared in the Tampa Bay Times earlier this month, also written by reporter William Levesque. </i></div>
<style type="text/css">
P {line-height: 22px; font-family: Georgia, Arial; text-indent: 0;}
</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-72500181436657563382016-01-18T12:08:00.003-05:002016-01-18T20:45:31.453-05:00Third World Bathrooms in OneWorld Terminal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RmRecPpreH4fgqVPAI8gF3SXlPQ_QtfPqVheqjsLuWnGcJahIyc9cbVEZYXEqeYls5ABz2af8wJlTLFwZ2Je_t1qM_ZuhYi1I7szFWz-qN972-1v0IKESXwbdWG57knjXgJ8M3Ld28c/s1600/P1100867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RmRecPpreH4fgqVPAI8gF3SXlPQ_QtfPqVheqjsLuWnGcJahIyc9cbVEZYXEqeYls5ABz2af8wJlTLFwZ2Je_t1qM_ZuhYi1I7szFWz-qN972-1v0IKESXwbdWG57knjXgJ8M3Ld28c/s320/P1100867.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Warning to readers: Photos of toilets appear in this post.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Travelers at the airport hail from many countries and speak
many languages but women arriving on <a href="https://www.oneworld.com/" target="_blank">oneworld</a> flights into New York’s John F. Kennedy
Airport have one <i>word </i>for the condition of
the bathrooms in Terminal 8, “Ewwww.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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Kisha Burgos stopped at the bathroom in the baggage claim
area and was shocked to see paper-strewn floors, filthy toilets and empty and
broken paper dispensers in the stalls. “It’s bad,” she told me comparing it to
the airports she visited in Bangkok, Vietnam and Laos on her recent five
week trip.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Everything was really clean,” she said of the bathrooms in
places one might not expect to find them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17h94HabPtA9gXtbPV0Bi9D6NKbhdSPmaICMa9xt_gi9i6K-wKiwB3FK6LKnzd7qu_ea1_0eAhqyTWC0pipMZX-Wz3qYKtS2qnHzaBBNF7a0A6H0CtieYvS3MZSSXShdHSpw4iYSLnvU/s1600/JFK+bathrooms+montage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17h94HabPtA9gXtbPV0Bi9D6NKbhdSPmaICMa9xt_gi9i6K-wKiwB3FK6LKnzd7qu_ea1_0eAhqyTWC0pipMZX-Wz3qYKtS2qnHzaBBNF7a0A6H0CtieYvS3MZSSXShdHSpw4iYSLnvU/s320/JFK+bathrooms+montage.JPG" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The American Airlines T-8 bathrooms on January 17th</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the airport of one of the world’s great cities by
contrast, more than half of the auto flush toilets were not flushed and
otherwise unclean in the bathrooms maintained by American Airlines. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In the
pre-immigration hall last night only 4 stalls were serviceable which was an
improvement - if only a slight one from the condition one week earlier when not
a single stall was usable.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In an email, American Airlines spokesman Casey Norton blamed
weather problems for the first instance of terrible toilets, those I discovered
on January 10th. For sure, it was not a good night to be flying into JFK. Several
arriving flights were late and landing at the same time. This meant “more
customers using the facilities than what is anticipated under normal
circumstances,” Norton said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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According to Anthony Bucci, a spokesman for <a href="http://www.cbp.gov/" target="_blank">U. S. Customs and Border Protection</a>, nine flights came in at the same time; between 5:00 and
6:00 that evening. I returned on AA flight
398 from St. Maarten and congestion in the arrival hall as was so bad, people were unable to step off the escalators - the room was that jam-packed. </div>
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<br /></div>
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“Sixteen hundred passengers arrived,” Bucci told me of a scene that could only be described as madness.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWSo3Xbz7DGtudvjM8wINYlUeixWMQqvS1xDj2xX7xQuY1Pmf0r3QozrINn80va7fVzkGSYpR0oerjOyB7HWUGFxu8V0MQbAGaJ-ezoCR2Mg36MkqnCP6SLIgpluML23vrihhh6G85rI/s1600/2016-01-17+16.21.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGWSo3Xbz7DGtudvjM8wINYlUeixWMQqvS1xDj2xX7xQuY1Pmf0r3QozrINn80va7fVzkGSYpR0oerjOyB7HWUGFxu8V0MQbAGaJ-ezoCR2Mg36MkqnCP6SLIgpluML23vrihhh6G85rI/s320/2016-01-17+16.21.47.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still the third-world bathroom conditions weren’t a one-off
as I learned last night when I was back again in Terminal 8. The cavernous hall was
nearly empty with just Finnair passengers present. So I paid another
visit to both arrivals bathrooms. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the immigration hall, some toilets were functional but now water leaked from one stall, pooling in the center of the floor. In the restroom by baggage claim a visitor from Finland told me the bathroom was the worst she'd seen in her frequent travels in the west.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Wanda Rivera, who works for <a href="http://latamairlinesgroup.net/" target="_blank">LATAM</a> was using the mirror to put on her makeup. “To me it’s bad,” she said. Elizabeth Perry,
another airport worker said she pops her head into stall after stall just to
find one clean enough to use. “Everytime, its eww, eww, eww,”
she told me adding that the custodian has a tough job.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6Z5-8TSou4Mslgo4ZMBcs61ap1CzxvM-5QO1x2uDMT3bxtloJREv4efIyviRhki9kHiMMvf8clHqFXWBWQVpCH-jPiq_VVy1Q61u0yKF0uEjkzA66OtL0ObzXovRZGJFOwGpasXI300/s1600/2016-01-17+16.21.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH6Z5-8TSou4Mslgo4ZMBcs61ap1CzxvM-5QO1x2uDMT3bxtloJREv4efIyviRhki9kHiMMvf8clHqFXWBWQVpCH-jPiq_VVy1Q61u0yKF0uEjkzA66OtL0ObzXovRZGJFOwGpasXI300/s200/2016-01-17+16.21.40.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I work at all terminals and I know it is sometimes very
hard. They clean it and it’s unbelievable what people do. It’s unimaginable.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Airport workers know the secret is to use the toilets on the departure level because passengers are better cared for there. Keeping them happy encourages them to shop and dine while waiting to board their flights. Arriving passengers on the other hand, are in a
hurry and on their way out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most customer-friendly airport is Singapore’s Changi where every bathroom has a touch screen survey enabling users to immediately register their satisfaction. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjQWQkX9OEPQuKxQceO44uDfovwBfYhEMSx_gmvugYyo6skwNXQZx63L7owlt9wkrZrhJHtmJv-syzdzq_6hxxSBvOEPU9H9D8Ik2Hxwk1OBEQOLvpNKIgykdnPq1X6Eji94-4aRrkZE/s1600/Changi+feedback+system.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBjQWQkX9OEPQuKxQceO44uDfovwBfYhEMSx_gmvugYyo6skwNXQZx63L7owlt9wkrZrhJHtmJv-syzdzq_6hxxSBvOEPU9H9D8Ik2Hxwk1OBEQOLvpNKIgykdnPq1X6Eji94-4aRrkZE/s320/Changi+feedback+system.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>User feedback in Singapore photo courtesy Changi Airport</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even without such sophisticated technology airport bathrooms on practically every continent - in both modern and developing nations - are in better shape than the two I visited at American’s Terminal 8 these past two Sundays. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We are reviewing the matter with the company that cleans the facilities to make sure customers have a better travel experience in the future,” American's Norton told me. </div>
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Within sight of the bathroom where I was chatting with Kisha Burgos, a large illuminated kiosk greets visitors to New York. A more useful and more sincere welcome would be to meet the basic needs of air travelers on both sides of their flight. That's a message for American Airlines and oneworld that's true around the world. </div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-86202321023485032072015-12-29T11:45:00.002-05:002015-12-29T11:56:27.804-05:00Aviation Year in Review Has a Star Wars Sci-Fi Feel<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5W6bwm2Thi8RBIkQRUlwxFhGkghaOe3RBfzMuiNwGGaSsSoVvoUumz9AN7uySsmqcOJfTzQzXLdz3vrqhH0PS5hWvUkcubM1Fu7nRSg6oOqsZ-QobSa0hUuGueKzD5qPBuBT9ggu1z0U/s1600/star+wars+publicity+photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5W6bwm2Thi8RBIkQRUlwxFhGkghaOe3RBfzMuiNwGGaSsSoVvoUumz9AN7uySsmqcOJfTzQzXLdz3vrqhH0PS5hWvUkcubM1Fu7nRSg6oOqsZ-QobSa0hUuGueKzD5qPBuBT9ggu1z0U/s320/star+wars+publicity+photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Harrison Ford and cast Disney handout photo </i></td></tr>
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Star Wars dominated the end-of-the-year entertainment news. Harrison Ford, the ageless superstar most associated with the ageless film franchise also arrives on my list of top aviation news stories as I wrap up the year with a look back at 2015. <style type="text/css">
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It was March (and the movie was already in the can) when Ford, a pilot for nearly a quarter century, lost the engine on his Ryan Aeronautical ST3KR, shortly after takeoff from <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/realestate/at-santa-monica-airport-the-noise-off-the-runway-is-getting-louder.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Santa Monica Airport</a>. He crash landed on a golf course about 800 feet from the airfield. The <a href="http://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20150305X93207" target="_blank">NTSB determined</a> a carburetor malfunction allowed too much fuel to flow into the engine causing it to fail. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbY0d5oJtxjIqzyS4TLiz3aNau3aXVta-Wq0XUYtrRLZKqUAAVfKvtshnWxBDwh6ZLMU7KLvpeDN2aJa2-BvncKTjGpwt7TFh8Vavo7vrICTx0EXcsMzZQuhGGYDoZwg5A-p11ndAYMVY/s1600/Martin+Jetpack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbY0d5oJtxjIqzyS4TLiz3aNau3aXVta-Wq0XUYtrRLZKqUAAVfKvtshnWxBDwh6ZLMU7KLvpeDN2aJa2-BvncKTjGpwt7TFh8Vavo7vrICTx0EXcsMzZQuhGGYDoZwg5A-p11ndAYMVY/s200/Martin+Jetpack.JPG" width="198" /></a></div>
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In other science fiction-like news, the portable jetpack moved closer to reality this year as New Zealand's <a href="http://www.martinjetpack.com/" target="_blank">Martin Jetpack</a> held its first public demonstration of the P12 in Shenzhen, China. A number of companies there have signed agreements to buy the single-operator, single-engine aircraft. </div>
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<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2011/07/of-aviation-pioneers-old-and-new.html" target="_blank">I flew a simulator</a> of an earlier version of the Jetpack a few years ago. That was thrilling but so is the eerie coincidence that Kiwi brain behind the project belongs to Glenn Martin. Yes, he shares the name of one of the world's earliest aircraft designers, Glenn Luther Martin, whose moniker is now part of Lockheed Martin. </div>
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Do you think the aviation pioneers of Glenn L. Martin's day could have imagined the 21st Century flying machine? </div>
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This year <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/07/beauty-takes-runway-on-a350-tour-just.html" target="_blank">the Airbus A350</a> began service with <a href="http://www.qatarairways.com/global/experience/A350/en/" target="_blank">Qatar Airways</a>, Vietnam Airlines, <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/12/nice-landing-or-scary-takeoff-a350.html" target="_blank">Tam</a> and <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/10/passion-but-few-tears-in-amsterdam-for.html" target="_blank">Finnair</a>, on which I'm happy to say, I'll be flying next month. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8cOcpJhlLbFvgD31Nbsem_1fQmwXdm4TLC4dPQPo0LTzxWC4ETLWNqwq0EdSHiECqSAptNRxaY2pu90bgh6fKC6RmJW1MQKFGCvERcszZM0AaSTpO9owaScfBWr22S6VpWAA7QoXHWg/s1600/Finnair+A350+XWB+Landing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu8cOcpJhlLbFvgD31Nbsem_1fQmwXdm4TLC4dPQPo0LTzxWC4ETLWNqwq0EdSHiECqSAptNRxaY2pu90bgh6fKC6RmJW1MQKFGCvERcszZM0AaSTpO9owaScfBWr22S6VpWAA7QoXHWg/s320/Finnair+A350+XWB+Landing.jpg" width="320" /></a>New plane hiccups aside, Airbus so far has avoided the drama that accompanied the equally revolutionary Boeing 787's first years of service. </div>
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2015 saw the <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/10/dont-be-spooked-if-787-battery-box-is.html" target="_blank">Dreamliner's lithium ion batteries still malfunctioning</a>, still causing diversions in the air and elevated blood pressure on the ground. </div>
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Turmoil also probably not imaginable to the early aviators cluttered the year past as Andreas Lubitz, a psychologically unstable young pilot deliberately <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/05/suicidalhomicidal-pilots-and-challenge.html" target="_blank">crashed a GermanWings flight</a> into the French Alps on March 23, killing 150. </div>
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In October, a charter airline, Metrojet, crashed under mysterious circumstances over the Sinai Desert. If it was an explosion - and the Egyptian investigators say there's nothing yet leading them to that conclusion - it <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/11/science-shows-metrojet-crash-triggered.html" target="_blank">had to be a bomb</a>. But one wonders why governments in the UK, USA, and Russia have all suggested <i>to the media</i> that it was an bomb without providing the official investigative team any supporting evidence. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1N9J5-d-0cTBWziiPJ2dx7wlWQka92U1HPY2gyTJFxJLp8ztawzJUH-WNorF0FGv2-UWkXWuy2hYI5ITGPSY5XhyphenhyphenjAW8LtlWi9IY7r56KI6CjdqIlc86HrI5ps00Ykp8SxIMzR3WV878/s1600/Monica+kelly+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1N9J5-d-0cTBWziiPJ2dx7wlWQka92U1HPY2gyTJFxJLp8ztawzJUH-WNorF0FGv2-UWkXWuy2hYI5ITGPSY5XhyphenhyphenjAW8LtlWi9IY7r56KI6CjdqIlc86HrI5ps00Ykp8SxIMzR3WV878/s320/Monica+kelly+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bamboozle abounds and not just on a large government-sized scale. The activities of Chicago aviation lawyer Monica Ribbeck (sometimes called Monica Kelly) continue to keep the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission busy. </div>
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Kelly/Ribbeck is a serial lawsuit filer and a judge in Chicago got sick of her antics following the loss of Malaysia 370. Background on the case is <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/01/reversal-of-bad-fortune-for-lawyer-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>. We will be well into the new year before the recommendation that her license to practice be suspended for sixty days is heard by the full disciplinary board, according to the commission's Jim Grogan. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>9M-MRO on approach to LAX photo by Jay Davis</i></td></tr>
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On the subject of the still-missing airliner, 2015 ended a sliver of the mystery when a piece of the Malaysia 777 wing<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/08/wing-flap-should-elevate-mh-370.html" target="_blank"> washed ashore</a> on the island of Reunion in July. Now we know the plane is not intact and hidden north of Malaysia as some had theorized. </div>
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The plane is still hidden in the Indian Ocean though precisely where is unknown. If the official investigators in Malaysia <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/08/wing-flap-should-elevate-mh-370.html" target="_blank">would do more work with what they have in hand</a>, perhaps 2016 would bring the world closer to knowing what happened. </div>
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The new year will bring publication by Penguin of<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/05/writing-book-on-mh-370-first-virtual.html" target="_blank"> my book</a> on this and other aviation mysteries in which I explain the past-is-predictive events that suggest what might have led to the MH-370 disaster. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Martin 130 cockpit. Photo courtesy Pan Am Archives</i></td></tr>
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From the disappearance of the Pan Am Clipper Martin 130 Flying Boat in 1938 (Yep, <i>that </i>Martin) to crashes into mountains explained by mentally ill pilots and inflight explosions attributed to ice, aviation history is <a href="http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/man-who-solved-mystery-flight-901-180956222/?no-ist" target="_blank">full of deception and discovery</a>, just like a Hollywood movie.</div>
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Happy New Year to all my Flying Lessons readers. </div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-26730894509605820202015-12-22T08:57:00.000-05:002015-12-22T10:59:56.889-05:00WWJD? If Jesus Had Been a Pilot<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4b9qzAn5poXTgnWYkIL8BVSw6R4YjUKG7s-RLFnpb5JDFALRKiM5Ea8CEoSUPZFccoJCN5Sq-EPU2JWgLq56fZrC73bnlYg_3WFn3IC0v3pjnb-mqpngvw3jz4RN1nkPSHLYbLZP5N4/s1600/IMG_1118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq4b9qzAn5poXTgnWYkIL8BVSw6R4YjUKG7s-RLFnpb5JDFALRKiM5Ea8CEoSUPZFccoJCN5Sq-EPU2JWgLq56fZrC73bnlYg_3WFn3IC0v3pjnb-mqpngvw3jz4RN1nkPSHLYbLZP5N4/s320/IMG_1118.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A patient being carried </i><br />
<i>All photos courtesy Samaritan Aviation.</i></td></tr>
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Mark Palm thinks he knows what Jesus might do if he were a
pilot. He might climb into the left seat of a Cessna 206 Amphibian and fly the 700 mile long Sepik River in Papua, New Guinea helping
transport the sick to the region’s only hospital. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It must feel a bit like being God, and not in a good way, when
Palm and others with the medical transport charity <a href="http://samaviation.com/" target="_blank">Samaritan Aviation</a> have to dispassionately
triage passengers before giving them a ride on the air ambulance. </div>
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Only those at risk of death– but not so close
to death that they are unlikely to survive – can fly. There are no beds in the hospital for the
dying and not enough space, medicine or physicians to offer comprehensive
treatment to everyone who might benefit from it. Practical realities must be
considered by those who would play God in New Guinea.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeAuB1lh9ddKANaOf-Y64ntddiDIzqip37hZY2dORiiR_38JMlpzGW2_CWW9smS1rPsKE0tCo4DYwXiv72_eF9Rr6ivChN1rUHxMBZnv5Z_zCd3xHwML5vjUZAuNmXycHRumXNZ1HleGs/s1600/IMG_2193.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeAuB1lh9ddKANaOf-Y64ntddiDIzqip37hZY2dORiiR_38JMlpzGW2_CWW9smS1rPsKE0tCo4DYwXiv72_eF9Rr6ivChN1rUHxMBZnv5Z_zCd3xHwML5vjUZAuNmXycHRumXNZ1HleGs/s320/IMG_2193.jpg" width="311" /></a>Even so, Palm says Samaritan Aviation which he operates with
his wife Kirsten has been able to make a difference. Since the float-equipped Caravan
<i>The Spirit of Paradise</i> began flying on the river in 2010, residents with broken
backs and toxic snake bites, spear wounds and complex pregnancies have been
delivered to Boram Hospital in Wewak in an hour or less by air. The alternative
would be a multi-day journey by canoe.</div>
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“We’re the only service like that in the entire country. It's
unique service we offer,” Palm said.</div>
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In parts of the developed world, the inability to pay for medical
care doesn’t influence its delivery, nor is there too much thought given to the
fact that a patient occupying one bed means another will not be treated. I’ve
<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/search/label/Helicopter%20EMS" target="_blank">written at length</a> about emergency medical helicopters in the United States and
the financial incentive the for-profit companies have to fly non-critical patients
after which these unsuspecting patients are shocked to receive bills for $12,000 or more. It is a completely different calculation in New Guinea.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzD_a2vor5Z2mBLH73sIQ9lqOzj6fM1ywn5QmJxQE0Rj_IPnstj7svEaYVlKCbOliu6EH6aaeuSDSaGq6W3Hr9NqAIwT9_F4lmicZ4xHrTTU7jjI8tPsnYKljCco6PT6nutiaIqYHex0/s1600/IMG_0537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzzD_a2vor5Z2mBLH73sIQ9lqOzj6fM1ywn5QmJxQE0Rj_IPnstj7svEaYVlKCbOliu6EH6aaeuSDSaGq6W3Hr9NqAIwT9_F4lmicZ4xHrTTU7jjI8tPsnYKljCco6PT6nutiaIqYHex0/s320/IMG_0537.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Canoe or plane? Samaritan Aviation makes critical flights</i></td></tr>
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“In the U.S., we spend millions to save someone with
terminal cancer,” Palm tells me. “The things I have to judge when I go out for
a flight,” is whether it is a life or death situation. Someone has cancer and
you know that, I won’t be bringing them in; the hospital can’t do anything for
them. There is no cancer treatment.” </div>
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limits of medical care couldn’t be more different than in the U.S. where Palm
grew up, in a family of pilots and missionaries. “It’s a forgotten place,” he
tells me not with resignation but with joy for the challenge. “We have an
amazing opportunity to make a huge difference.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Samaritan Aviation’s $850,000 yearly budget comes in part from
the New Guinea government with a roughly equal amount of support coming from donations. The budget has grown as
Samaritan expands with the addition this year of a second Caravan and a pilot
to fly it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcNb4CoQynvQIzHtW_LwIihHHHrD4AZEf1uPENBCiChEgZG_jlg6VjkAmoNu3Z4RBW5n6xqgixvpMapeqsjqpjNyz3V6YgxP02sbWA2sEOX_ZXoBTA7APUALpEU2G1m1zUiX7_Mj0nb4/s1600/Kirsten+Palm.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcNb4CoQynvQIzHtW_LwIihHHHrD4AZEf1uPENBCiChEgZG_jlg6VjkAmoNu3Z4RBW5n6xqgixvpMapeqsjqpjNyz3V6YgxP02sbWA2sEOX_ZXoBTA7APUALpEU2G1m1zUiX7_Mj0nb4/s320/Kirsten+Palm.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kirsten Palm with locals on the Sepik River</i></td></tr>
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Now, during a five month home leave Palm is telling the story of his mission to anyone who will listen - trying to encourage contributions. And it being
Christmas, the story of Samaritan Aviation has babies front and center. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Sixty five percent of the lives we save are mothers and
babies.” On one particularly fertile week on the river earlier this year Samaritan
flew four women carrying twins to the hospital where all delivered healthy
newborns. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At Christmastime, or anytime, that’s inspiring,
and an improvement in comfort if nothing else from the story of Mary - nine months
pregnant - hoofing it to Bethlehem on a donkey. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Part of my goal when I talk to people is to inspire them,”
Palm said. “I’m trying to get people out of their own
space and comfort zone to say ‘What can I do to make a difference in the world?'”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNUmlqo_pHylEJxGjkv-eiLKViqs4ybeJJ4Vvf8l3CRsCE6_6jLfw07k6ZNaF7zue1HYKM9xWPWsmrmh-1SONA68K_ZjpK89Ly4m4E9Zi56m-MBygmWLQwWmXUtElayPDKsFgAI64gA4/s1600/Mark+with+villagers.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNUmlqo_pHylEJxGjkv-eiLKViqs4ybeJJ4Vvf8l3CRsCE6_6jLfw07k6ZNaF7zue1HYKM9xWPWsmrmh-1SONA68K_ZjpK89Ly4m4E9Zi56m-MBygmWLQwWmXUtElayPDKsFgAI64gA4/s320/Mark+with+villagers.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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In Papua New Guinea, people in need of emergency
medical care, “don’t see us, they don’t see America. They see the hands and feet
of Jesus in action," Palm told me.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
“If Jesus was a pilot?” I ask.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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If Jesus was a pilot, that’s what he would do. </div>
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<i>Read more about Samaritan Aviation including how to donate by
clicking <a href="http://samaviation.com/donate/" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-63938997262917664462015-12-19T10:45:00.001-05:002015-12-19T10:59:23.951-05:00Happy Birthday from Syria and Other Places in a Troubled World<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2SM2Cj-TzBE4mEzHacbLPamVwE9TOpx4wY9UYj1XN1B3mrMQsWRBOoMaqEtDPo6UTzb8RUr154ll5RAQpVsb3Y1V0MJehb9FuyuwacnNuQ3zkvNqNbjLysUn7IKxM6e8W-xAcNo6aqE/s1600/birthday+message+facebook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2SM2Cj-TzBE4mEzHacbLPamVwE9TOpx4wY9UYj1XN1B3mrMQsWRBOoMaqEtDPo6UTzb8RUr154ll5RAQpVsb3Y1V0MJehb9FuyuwacnNuQ3zkvNqNbjLysUn7IKxM6e8W-xAcNo6aqE/s320/birthday+message+facebook.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of my Facebook messages today</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Not long after my eyes opened this morning I enjoyed reading
some of the early birthday greetings posted on my Facebook page. (Don't judge me.) It is heartwarming
to be remembered by friends and family of course. Then I noticed something
else; the remarkable number of countries from which those greetings came. I counted eleven even before 9:00 o'clock. </div>
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My host family during <a href="http://gohowknowhow.com/weekend-in-the-palmyra-khaled-al-asaad-died-to-protect/" target="_blank">my 2006 stay in Syria</a>, my daughter’s
<a href="http://gohowknowhow.com/263/" target="_blank">former boyfriend in New Zealand</a>, an au pair from Spain, a tour guide from
Morocco, a pre-teen acquaintance from Australia, an a <a href="http://gohowknowhow.com/the-story-of-the-friend-i-did-not-know/" target="_blank">septuagenarian from Japan</a>,
business associates from Norway, Italy and India and fellow aviation enthusiasts from
Holland, Sweden and France.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg48nIKq9GMOGuxeup_OXDqkm5uqrf23_EucR1g26TrqOYiqgfs0cGsAyemEDGqCFW8bZ1UB7fyGYEIU7gT3N7FD5hdb8mK7xmSceC7-ZqV1j0YKH01WXDVOAP4EZi1QWqUsYZpFCn-x3g/s1600/With+Nur+Uzmana+at+the+Royal+Selangor+Flying+Club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg48nIKq9GMOGuxeup_OXDqkm5uqrf23_EucR1g26TrqOYiqgfs0cGsAyemEDGqCFW8bZ1UB7fyGYEIU7gT3N7FD5hdb8mK7xmSceC7-ZqV1j0YKH01WXDVOAP4EZi1QWqUsYZpFCn-x3g/s320/With+Nur+Uzmana+at+the+Royal+Selangor+Flying+Club.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>With pilot Nur Uzmana in Kuala Lumpur</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This international assortment of well-wishers reminds me of
one of the great unanswerable questions. What <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2011/12/flying-modern-airliner-through-magical.html" target="_blank">has had a larger impact</a> on the world, aviation or communication technology? <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
So many of my international friends would be strangers to me
were it not for the miracle of flight. Air travel bridges the world. And yet, the phenomenal strides in
communication technology incorporated within the machine are what turned
flying into the experience in comfort and safety that it is today.<br />
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<br /></div>
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We
have airliners that are computer systems, inflight entertainment that allows access
to the internet seven miles above the earth, near constant transmission of
aircraft and engine status and the <i>pushing-the-edge</i> calculations that enabled searchers
to know the approximate location of the <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/07/egg-heads-unlikely-malaysia-370-heroes.html" target="_blank">still-missing flight of Malaysia 370</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFONQWNJ0eds0yeVpsQxSevLlbpbnX5QDUvBrewwDesn6FQAgK2_a4AWsr-BN77faDdtOjXl8jocc4OVka7SI_uV-rA6drHq-UWgyhip1RuK5BBvAurYGxZnjmmSHvN4vhBZfecKI9SHA/s1600/Aleppo+from+citidel+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFONQWNJ0eds0yeVpsQxSevLlbpbnX5QDUvBrewwDesn6FQAgK2_a4AWsr-BN77faDdtOjXl8jocc4OVka7SI_uV-rA6drHq-UWgyhip1RuK5BBvAurYGxZnjmmSHvN4vhBZfecKI9SHA/s320/Aleppo+from+citidel+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Aleppo in better days</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Birthday greetings from Syria remind me also that for
all the positives associated with 21st Century technology, the unchangeable
nature of humans keeps our world in conflict. My lovely hosts in Damascus were not
unlike most families around the world in their desire to raise their children in peace. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For all our great achievements in the sky or through the
airwaves, we have been unable to make progress in the area that matters most
that is learning how to live together in this world we share.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thoughtful birthday messages from friends I have met during
my travels by air and delivered to me via the world wide web aren’t important
on the grand scheme, I know. Still at Christmas when <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2012/12/faith-that-moves-mountains-from-defunct.html" target="_blank">many of us celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace</a>, I choose to see these small gestures from people in my life near and far, as
glimmers of a future when we will fly on to a better world. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcf3sXNvvoOhq74yUIM7GhgVeMnz3azhacvMUEB037dRaZh9yG515XtB4c_uIiaubpfxVwhyNQQB3EFs5KdsARxJGVEabHZo6qCORSckpHCLgDsgoh7OfIROWd9v-Lyc72WaNFRtiQmME/s1600/Happy+Birthday+in+Vietnam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcf3sXNvvoOhq74yUIM7GhgVeMnz3azhacvMUEB037dRaZh9yG515XtB4c_uIiaubpfxVwhyNQQB3EFs5KdsARxJGVEabHZo6qCORSckpHCLgDsgoh7OfIROWd9v-Lyc72WaNFRtiQmME/s320/Happy+Birthday+in+Vietnam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Birthday greetings from a market in Hanoi</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-90502385437943044012015-12-18T09:35:00.001-05:002015-12-18T11:55:10.849-05:00Nice Landing or Scary Takeoff A350 Enters Service With Both<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD37CcI4fWMrUtcU4CqfeI08PK2SZZgLcQigutxpupODoAZa9e0ZRPPF42n71n-HDZgHv9LPp2huaITdSmFaZTlM1tzWvw90ZGZOfPV27Yu8U4463usDNXAEZTQeiKLBic6tRc4wM24DE/s1600/TAM+A350+in+Brazil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD37CcI4fWMrUtcU4CqfeI08PK2SZZgLcQigutxpupODoAZa9e0ZRPPF42n71n-HDZgHv9LPp2huaITdSmFaZTlM1tzWvw90ZGZOfPV27Yu8U4463usDNXAEZTQeiKLBic6tRc4wM24DE/s320/TAM+A350+in+Brazil.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A350 arrives in Brazil photo courtesy TAM</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What a difference a week makes. Early this morning, TAM
Airlines happily welcomed its first Airbus A350 when it touched down
uneventfully in Brazil after a flight from Airbus HQ in Toulouse France. Earlier
this week, however, it was quite a different experience when a Qatar Airways
charter flight with aviation writers enjoying a look at the fancy new wide body,
attempted to leave New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. </div>
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<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_8BLpWj4wA_vLJpypeF-SlH5IzW5UJA2LhkAzD7ie_Jnr2rQtT0_4_4GKg9blQJxidUr3yay_sxTfEoF7C8I378N-0vQsNeiptTZsmudrvTRmWovCFPvA3hywRDNW1mzREnVScBewA4/s1600/Zach+Honig+on+Qatar+A350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE_8BLpWj4wA_vLJpypeF-SlH5IzW5UJA2LhkAzD7ie_Jnr2rQtT0_4_4GKg9blQJxidUr3yay_sxTfEoF7C8I378N-0vQsNeiptTZsmudrvTRmWovCFPvA3hywRDNW1mzREnVScBewA4/s320/Zach+Honig+on+Qatar+A350.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Honig's blog post on the Qatar experience</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In that
case, what appeared to be a normal takeoff roll was suddenly aborted. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Zach Honig, <a href="http://thepointsguy.com/2015/12/aborted-takeoff-during-qatar-first-a350-flight-from-the-us/" target="_blank">The Points Guy</a> editor, who was on the flight called it the most
memorable of his life and posted the flight cam video on YouTube.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MKtPlj932YY" width="400"></iframe>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Interestingly, Honig says he and another journalist were unable to disembark, despite making requests to do so. An hour and forty minutes later, the A350 was airborne to
Doha where it arrived safely, to Honig's relief. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There’s no word on what happened to cause the abrupt halt to takeoff number one, but one can’t discount the possibility of mode confusion as
a possibility when an airline begins operating a brand new airplane.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jTDUbUU0A2eMQJbYLUJHTm32kd2qWJx0cOat6jYoUMeDy4DewrLgiX07feaVPrBI0ZraLS6EPzkVYMu0Gem_PI-leBGSH3LqEjw7HDckQIOlEBaVJ3UOPT25trD6S1v2QdIBZz3MRsM/s1600/TAM+takeoff+A350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-jTDUbUU0A2eMQJbYLUJHTm32kd2qWJx0cOat6jYoUMeDy4DewrLgiX07feaVPrBI0ZraLS6EPzkVYMu0Gem_PI-leBGSH3LqEjw7HDckQIOlEBaVJ3UOPT25trD6S1v2QdIBZz3MRsM/s320/TAM+takeoff+A350.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>TAM's first A350 takes off Photo courtesy TAM</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In Brazil, TAM is planning a one-month <i>get-to-know-you</i> phase with the A350 it received just in time for Christmas. This morning, after landing on Brazilian soil at Confins
International Airport in Belo Horizonte, it received its
Brazilian registration PR-XTA with which it will fly on to Sao Baulo/Guraulhos
Airport on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We are very happy to celebrate receiving the first A350 XWB
in the Americas," TAM's CEO Claudia Sender said in a press
release. "We are pioneers in bringing this aircraft to the
region." <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRVvkckO5O9GEONdna5ltPm0RiR1l08v0iq8TzmKG-sMH7uH6oMFy5bx8FFybXWbXgbqBBFZqc60-tIvlbWLltVymtBDXAG7G3S0nIX7vC8yK1oNXKjNMODIaywjVsCJb3C-kzyplT-E/s1600/Claudia+Sender+TAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtRVvkckO5O9GEONdna5ltPm0RiR1l08v0iq8TzmKG-sMH7uH6oMFy5bx8FFybXWbXgbqBBFZqc60-tIvlbWLltVymtBDXAG7G3S0nIX7vC8yK1oNXKjNMODIaywjVsCJb3C-kzyplT-E/s320/Claudia+Sender+TAM.jpg" width="270" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>CEO Claudia Sender photo courtesy TAM</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sender, a Harvard MBA grad, is herself a pioneer; one of the
world's few top-level female airline executives. She could also have been
talking about herself when she told people assembled for the arrival of the
plane, that South America's largest carrier is committed to having "one of
the youngest and most innovative fleets in the world." <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
At 40, Sender is also on the younger side of a business
where most chief executives are grey, not blonde. She has been with TAM
for just five years arriving right after LAN and TAM merged in
2012 making LATAM Airlines Group. <o:p></o:p></div>
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TAM's pilots, flight attendants, maintenance and operations
staff will spend January learning about the new star of their long-haul
fleet. After that the first revenue flights begin. In March, TAM’s A350
will operate on routes between Sao Paulo and Miami, Orlando and Madrid.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXJmeaTFov_Wf0rEHDdr4p_cW2nqalsQjU21IM67nrVjzioy8y-crqKLIVwls3ZsdMsjFDA_bYc3fE61bfDYfSkFt41P76tzi7-9YfLMa68Xw4T9kCdOYxwxztoIh9Q-C548P_tTef_w/s1600/Finnair+A350+XWB+Landing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIXJmeaTFov_Wf0rEHDdr4p_cW2nqalsQjU21IM67nrVjzioy8y-crqKLIVwls3ZsdMsjFDA_bYc3fE61bfDYfSkFt41P76tzi7-9YfLMa68Xw4T9kCdOYxwxztoIh9Q-C548P_tTef_w/s320/Finnair+A350+XWB+Landing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
TAM is the fourth airline to receive the A350, a direct
competitor to the <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2012/09/dreamliner-is-dream-when-not-trying-to.html" target="_blank">Boeing 787 Dreamliner</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/10/passion-but-few-tears-in-amsterdam-for.html" target="_blank">Finnair</a> is already flying it between Helsinki and Shanghai with a New York
route scheduled to begin for a limited time in January. I’ll be on that trip from JFK in early 2016,
so here’s hoping unlike Honig's experience on Qatar, my Finnair takeoff happens exactly right - the very
first time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I2augTxoLlY?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-70057363746388278452015-12-10T05:05:00.000-05:002015-12-10T05:26:00.864-05:00Merry Christmas for U.S. Airlines With Record Profits in 2015 <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Q7za8mOU62cMB21MrmMiUCxNtEOI4kGH7V_cpvF_-R6m6wWDYevbHSeYiwKjlIy_Ge8t_dJjnaCf9e2GOtr-zN4cCE1lSJZmNHbQQpKqBa5kYtBq20wHH22631aRHBwpADyv7kWZJ9E/s1600/Visit+to+Delta+2013+%252831%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Q7za8mOU62cMB21MrmMiUCxNtEOI4kGH7V_cpvF_-R6m6wWDYevbHSeYiwKjlIy_Ge8t_dJjnaCf9e2GOtr-zN4cCE1lSJZmNHbQQpKqBa5kYtBq20wHH22631aRHBwpADyv7kWZJ9E/s320/Visit+to+Delta+2013+%252831%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>US Carrier profitability takes off</i></td></tr>
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It will be a merry end of the year for North American
airlines which will earn nearly $20 billion in profits in 2015, according to
numbers forecast today by the <a href="http://itata.org/" target="_blank">International Air Transport Association</a>. That’s more than half of the $33 billion
profit expected to be generated by the world’s passenger carriers for the year
about to come to a close.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“North American airlines are way out ahead of the pack and producing
good operating margins,” said Brian Pearce economist for the trade association
in a presentation to journalists in Geneva. But in an industry more comfortable
with and more accustomed to worrying about where the next dollar is going to
come from, IATA chief Tony Tyler was quick to put a moderating spin on the news.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>IATA's Tony Tyler</i></td></tr>
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“This is a normal level of profitability, it’s good but not
outstanding compared to other elements of the global economy,” Tyler said
adding that “Any profit is hard earned.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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A number of economic factors contributed to the whopping
profits generated by the U.S. airlines, what Pearce said were “the best in the
world.” These include a strong dollar, the drop in fuel prices
and industry consolidation in America seen most recently with the merger of US Airways
and American Airlines two years ago yesterday which created the world’s largest airline. </div>
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The per-passenger
profit of North American airlines in 2015 was $22.48 up from $13.30 in 2014. That in itself is startling even before comparison tothe next highest per passenger profit generated by European
airlines which was $7.55 and the Middle East carriers with $7.19.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It did not escape the notice of journalists hearing the news
this morning in Geneva, that the announcement of US record profits came just a day after the chief executive of Qatar Airways blasted Delta Air Lines boss
Richard Anderson and the complaints of Delta and other U.S. carriers that Gulf airlines were
presenting unfair competition in the United States. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Al Baker, already aware of the numbers told reporters, "They wouldn't be making those
kinds of profits that they're making, if any airline from the Gulf was
undermining them."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFhK8sKJ_q3dn8Pk_JfvUh97WwvFUtAacdBEHO7BwWS4zzfIbaUPGgFHLih2Pti6HV_tyInNJWzpLEzID68ahcK5XUJSRFZPM9Kmi96gzzZrErGrgZ78cyMfBzLVBJlZuPCFgjaakCNI/s1600/qatar-airways-airbus-a350-in-flight_23520631241_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFhK8sKJ_q3dn8Pk_JfvUh97WwvFUtAacdBEHO7BwWS4zzfIbaUPGgFHLih2Pti6HV_tyInNJWzpLEzID68ahcK5XUJSRFZPM9Kmi96gzzZrErGrgZ78cyMfBzLVBJlZuPCFgjaakCNI/s320/qatar-airways-airbus-a350-in-flight_23520631241_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Qatar's A350 Photo courtesy Qatar Airways</i></td></tr>
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Baker’s New York news conference to talk about new Airbus A-350
routes from Doha to New York veered into another of the Qatari executive's <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.ch/2012/06/airline-industry-challenges-prompt.html" target="_blank">typically caustic</a> attacks when he claimed Delta’s Anderson wants to stifle competition, "so
he can swindle American passengers even more."<o:p></o:p></div>
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Middle East carriers by the way are projected to earn $1.4
billion at the end of this year. European airlines nearly $7 billion and
Asia-Pacific airlines $5.8. But it's going to be a coal-in-the-stocking sort of holiday for Africa and Latin
America where negative revenues are projected.</div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-64552522969183635852015-11-13T13:32:00.002-05:002015-11-15T07:47:39.070-05:00Science Shows Metrojet Crash Triggered by a Bomb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3esTwIWRPTlCRzwoyHL6f7BRiabt5l19k5ArJRr94s9Ogjb_f1qNgBOSXz-krw-WBNrRGi4sVmyeiU97ynKRvem4HkHr_iZN5SGO-ZgFvFNpqs9gYwTLf7yZIrg7Nex2UaXL3yzVNoY/s1600/Metrojet+plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3esTwIWRPTlCRzwoyHL6f7BRiabt5l19k5ArJRr94s9Ogjb_f1qNgBOSXz-krw-WBNrRGi4sVmyeiU97ynKRvem4HkHr_iZN5SGO-ZgFvFNpqs9gYwTLf7yZIrg7Nex2UaXL3yzVNoY/s320/Metrojet+plane.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The blast that took down a Russian Airbus A321 over the Sinai last month, had to be triggered by a bomb, an experienced explosives expert said today. "If the information about the plane being at 31,000 feet is reliable, it's not a fuel air explosion," Merritt Birky, a former safety investigator with the NTSB told me. Lacking any indication that a missile hit the airplane, Birky's conclusion eliminates the other possible scenario, that the plane came apart mid flight due to an explosion in the plane's center fuel tank.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYr2ipFbYqRLP01CxNqGg3gsz0j3nMeiA2xbNbY0jMDR7ojLSdDcPJG5L9KdE8ea-sc_AWLvsMj4ySqcOCRK9mKhlh490I3fXl5hUZgHuw513XRhiEzl5yRwtSmfvbseurID6MFAZnIE/s1600/2015-11-13+13.19.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMYr2ipFbYqRLP01CxNqGg3gsz0j3nMeiA2xbNbY0jMDR7ojLSdDcPJG5L9KdE8ea-sc_AWLvsMj4ySqcOCRK9mKhlh490I3fXl5hUZgHuw513XRhiEzl5yRwtSmfvbseurID6MFAZnIE/s320/2015-11-13+13.19.32.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Birky (L) in 1996</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Birky, now retired, was the principal explosion and chemical expert in the four year investigation into the crash of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Departure-Experts-Disaster-ebook/dp/B00FDRUZNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381509162&sr=1-1&keywords=deadly+departure" target="_blank">TWA Flight 800 in 1996</a>. While U.S. federal law enforcement officials were insisting for months that a bomb or missile took down the Boeing 747 shortly after it departed New York, Birky and his team were convinced an internal ignition of the plane's fuel tank caused the accident which killed 230 people. That was the ultimate conclusion of the NTSB, though <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2013/07/hubris-has-starring-role-in-twa-800.html" target="_blank">theories of a cover-up</a> linger to this day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In analysing the Metrojet accident, Birky said the cause could be determined by simple science. At 31,000 there is not enough oxygen density in the air to support combustion in a fuel tank. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"That's about one-third of an atmosphere of oxygen," Birky said. "So if the satellite info is reliable, I assume they
know the flash they saw was at that altitude, it has got to be an externally-initiated explosion, not from inside the fuel tank." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What you have is in contrast to TWA 800," he told me. "You don't have to sort out what caused it other than a bomb or a missile." (My book on the TWA 800 accident is available by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Departure-Experts-Disaster-ebook/dp/B00FDRUZNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381509162&sr=1-1&keywords=deadly+departure" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Birky, who is also a chemist and a specialist in the toxicology of combustion products, suspects the explosive device was probably plastic, sometimes called C-4 or plastique and that there was plenty of it. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"It's
not going to be a small bomb like Lockerbie," he said referring to the altitude-sensing device that detonated on a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1989, killing 270. "It can’t be because you're not going to
have a big flash that can be observed by satellite."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">While "simple science" can eliminate a fuel tank explosion, that's far from the only clue that investigators can use to find out what happened to the Russian-bound airplane. Much more evidence is on the ground. The bomb would do massive damage to the airplane and that will be hard to miss when looking at the wreckage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Observing damage to the metal, evidence of fire and direction of smoke, all can help determine where on the airplane the bomb was likely placed and that in turn can lead to who might be responsible. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Other experienced aviation safety experts say photos of the tail plane don't seem to show burn damage. Birky suspects the bomb was probably positioned in the landing gear wheel well or in a baggage or cargo compartment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">All of this means the crash of Metrojet 9268 is unlikely to remain a mystery. But for all those who predict the last sound recorded on the cockpit voice recorder will tell the tale, Birky says "that's crazy stuff", confirming <a href="http://www.runwaygirlnetwork.com/2015/11/10/op-ed-why-the-rush-to-judgment-in-the-metrojet-disaster/" target="_blank">my post on this subject</a> earlier this week for RunwayGirlNetwork in which black box specialist Mike Poole said the same thing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Who needs it anyway? As <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/11/04/454692311/u-k-says-bomb-likely-brought-down-russian-plane-over-sinai" target="_blank">I told Robert Siegel</a> on All Things Considered on November 4, what led to this disaster will not remain unknown for long. Evidence abounds. The only mystery is why the Egyptians are letting speculation run rampant rather than revealing what they know. </span></span></div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-5034325819750565442015-11-05T12:27:00.002-05:002015-11-05T12:27:26.381-05:00Prudence and Probable Cause Not the Same Thing in Metrojet Crash<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LVMLWCWZNTUJxVD-WOP0lXv1Z-nzQKFrcYlEpJwRHsieODu0xidW8HW0ASLGOP9cza5_lQT6FxR8CGORTAaYDWcLemSYkT4SqaLB0z_qiBDd8axFsgeWLR3OVOhUheq4ilw7xTrBkdE/s1600/David+Cameron+UK+prime+minister.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8LVMLWCWZNTUJxVD-WOP0lXv1Z-nzQKFrcYlEpJwRHsieODu0xidW8HW0ASLGOP9cza5_lQT6FxR8CGORTAaYDWcLemSYkT4SqaLB0z_qiBDd8axFsgeWLR3OVOhUheq4ilw7xTrBkdE/s320/David+Cameron+UK+prime+minister.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>UK Prime Minister Cameron Government photo</i></td></tr>
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All over the news today is the story of the UK and Irish
governments canceling flights out of Sharm el Sheikh. British Prime Minister
David Cameron told reporters “ a bomb was more likely than not” to have brought
down the Airbus A321 flown by the Russian charter airline, Metrojet.<br />
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But be cautious about drawing
conclusions based on the reaction of government officials concerned about protecting
the lives of citizens flying out of the Egyptian resort town. It is the job of Prime Ministers and other political leaders to be prudent and investigate
what could have happened to determine if a real threat exists. That's not to say what is worrying them is what actually happened. </div>
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It could be a case of political grandstanding with
politicians leading journalists to the terrorism conclusion. It could be that
journalists are taking ordinary caution out of context and making it something
more conclusive than it is.</div>
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Either way, the wreckage and black box data will tell the
tale. Which leads me to the thoughts of an experienced airline mechanic who
upon studying the video of the Metrojet debris as shown on television told me this, <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Did you see how cleanly the tail broke off the Metrojet
Airbus??? I'd bet my 401(k) on structural failure.” My mechanic friend, is just
as influenced as anyone else by the media running off like a dog with a bone on the terror
trail. Still after seeing new footage this morning, he came back to me
a little less willing to put his retirement on the line, but still perplexed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I just find it peculiar how the tail broke off with straight
lines rather than jagged tears.” Noting that the Metrojet plane experienced a tail strike several
years ago and was repaired, my source added, “It conjures up memories of
Aloha and Southwest -- structural failure.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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To be clear, what the politicians and unnamed intelligence
sources are providing is not information about the accident investigation, it is what they are learning from their security investigation. That’s their job. What’s
going on out in the Sinai is something else, actual tin kicking that will, if all goes as it should, not only determine the cause of the accident, it will
identify previously unknown lapses in the system. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYn1LgDvPdZu_RLWpaZyTsmsvs_wpjdgGc7zedBUxayxPJTS8ZaHBYCghZ4mZB8gXx6YCZBCPcgNcyzWzNpvphzSCfLfSROa0qo6kAIom0sWM7rpXFoVQ9CiulWMnUlyhALdPZZJ8148U/s1600/Sharm+el+Sheikh+airport.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYn1LgDvPdZu_RLWpaZyTsmsvs_wpjdgGc7zedBUxayxPJTS8ZaHBYCghZ4mZB8gXx6YCZBCPcgNcyzWzNpvphzSCfLfSROa0qo6kAIom0sWM7rpXFoVQ9CiulWMnUlyhALdPZZJ8148U/s320/Sharm+el+Sheikh+airport.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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If the Metrojet flight to St. Petersburg blew up or came apart from some non-nefarious reason, it does not dismiss the validity of the hubbub over security at Sharm el Sheikh, though it does raise the question, <a href="http://www.christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/07/airlines-and-governments-oblivious-to.html" target="_blank">why weren’t those security threats noted</a> before the loss of 224 lives?<o:p></o:p></div>
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In this respect, it could be another case of Malaysia 17
where <a href="http://www.christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/07/airlines-and-governments-oblivious-to.html" target="_blank">a failure to stay on top of security</a>, allowed a disaster to happen.</div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-83866739443573244302015-11-03T11:46:00.002-05:002015-11-03T11:46:41.545-05:00Eyebrows Ascend as Airline Execs Demonstrate Their Plonker-ism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4b3pfXzZuo06kOf7q2NvZw7csMkCxXvFU5OtNJqDc2e6pagmmvIjpp-9q4kZvdEN3rjgYqAHvrlw5c9X9i6S16Hefo2P_QOYHJrIvBprTGjQPyH-uok0s0qunZkep_l8-qUvrgcjewj0/s1600/Metrojet+crash+site.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4b3pfXzZuo06kOf7q2NvZw7csMkCxXvFU5OtNJqDc2e6pagmmvIjpp-9q4kZvdEN3rjgYqAHvrlw5c9X9i6S16Hefo2P_QOYHJrIvBprTGjQPyH-uok0s0qunZkep_l8-qUvrgcjewj0/s320/Metrojet+crash+site.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It never ceases to amaze me how often senior airline bosses will prattle on regardless of what they know about the subject. The latest <i>you've-got-to-be-kidding</i> remarks come from Alexander Smirnov, the deputy general director of the airline, Metrojet whose Airbus A321 crashed over Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Sunday. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"We rule out a technical fault of the plane or a pilot
error," the executive said at news conference in Moscow on Monday and adding fuel to the speculation that the Airbus A321 was brought down by a terrorist. "The only possible (sic) could be a purely mechanical
external impact," Smirnov said. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Smirnov news conference photo from Poskotanews</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well he can say what he wants, but that won't make him correct. In truth, any number of events could have caused the airplane to break apart in flight especially considering the fact that the airplane was still in its ascent as it flew north from Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea to St. Petersburg. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The increasing pressure differential could have triggered a rupture at an undetected crack or weak point. This created all kinds of havoc on the first commercial jetliner, the Comet in the mid 1950s as you will read in my <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/05/writing-book-on-mh-370-first-virtual.html" target="_blank">forthcoming book</a> on aviation mysteries. In that case a series of design errors was to blame. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrYWRv_n-CEHXZNKesJMCfULaF6d972vjI_sZyivJ3Auk-Z6jiew1__8ZV7oK_vWguY2UTRcmxQElI-Fp2ZO4TK7q_ILaRyn_MJoDP6gHOf_-mqU2x1S1j7KTxcb_YPgLp4NxSUKDExY/s1600/JAL+123+reconstruction+of+rear+pressure+bulkhead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrYWRv_n-CEHXZNKesJMCfULaF6d972vjI_sZyivJ3Auk-Z6jiew1__8ZV7oK_vWguY2UTRcmxQElI-Fp2ZO4TK7q_ILaRyn_MJoDP6gHOf_-mqU2x1S1j7KTxcb_YPgLp4NxSUKDExY/s320/JAL+123+reconstruction+of+rear+pressure+bulkhead.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pressure bulkhead from JAL 123 photo courtesy John Purvis</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The A321 is unlikely to be harboring some heretofore undetected design issue. What is entirely possible is a scenario like what happened on <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2010/09/important-part-of-japanese-culture-is.html" target="_blank">Japan Airlines Flight 123</a> in 1985 where an inadequate repair subjected to repeated pressurization cycles finally gave way, causing a massive decompression and the loss of the Boeing 747's tail. Five hundred and twenty people were killed in the crash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Russian Metrojet plane reportedly had been damaged during a tail strike incident years earlier. Examining the company repair and maintenance records will be an important component of the investigation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An altitude-triggering bomb could have caused the plane to come apart in flight, in an accident similar to the crash of Swiss Air 330 in 1970, and more famously, Pan Am 103 in December 1988. Or, a fuel-air explosion caused by some ignition source could be responsible. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWakYW0c8PpmSjG19uh1fHp01KXb5GBr9YjtfwT_wQ7x6PJC-NpaUoyWVaS8ZkQMtL7qeQvFV3jw3LwUr-XlrEOv-awvCSFATWAEIlMbqViqNChBso7clrm7cOrAHKBN45TyGq4CCWgWY/s1600/TWA+800+briefing+Ashburn+VA+%252822%2529-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWakYW0c8PpmSjG19uh1fHp01KXb5GBr9YjtfwT_wQ7x6PJC-NpaUoyWVaS8ZkQMtL7qeQvFV3jw3LwUr-XlrEOv-awvCSFATWAEIlMbqViqNChBso7clrm7cOrAHKBN45TyGq4CCWgWY/s320/TWA+800+briefing+Ashburn+VA+%252822%2529-001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wreckage of TWA Flight 800 at NTSB safety center</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It could be intentional like the bomb carried onto Avianca Flight 203 in 1989 and placed in the passenger cabin above the Boeing 727's center fuel tank. It could be unintentional such as a still-unknown ignition source that caused the center tank of a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Departure-Experts-Disaster-ebook/dp/B00FDRUZNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381509162&sr=1-1&keywords=deadly+departure" target="_blank">TWA Boeing 747</a> to explode on ascent from JFK Airport in 1996. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Speculation is the natural reaction to an unexpected event like a plane crash. No one expects the media or even the traveling public to be circumspect. But executives ought to be aware of their industry's own history and more, ought to be respectful of the fact that when the wreckage is still smoldering, it is not the time to make conclusive statements. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mr. Smirnov is not the first to raise eyebrows with intemperate and inaccurate statements. I'm reminded of the public pronouncements of a few other airline bosses who would have been better off if they had relied on the communications professionals to do the talking for them.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKrv_7HDV6o6eNDy-CqvOh29yVyacPjBbIrX7UDonkyVZ8bvGQyWoYbtkgkRVL5yxZlFbRs7hHNZC0mlk5eIVshXBiQd_fwFe4SNlWjhGtGkmUrpP39raC5mrWQvVanKg6NcK8IbQdAE/s1600/Tim-Clark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKrv_7HDV6o6eNDy-CqvOh29yVyacPjBbIrX7UDonkyVZ8bvGQyWoYbtkgkRVL5yxZlFbRs7hHNZC0mlk5eIVshXBiQd_fwFe4SNlWjhGtGkmUrpP39raC5mrWQvVanKg6NcK8IbQdAE/s320/Tim-Clark.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Tim Clark Photo courtesy Emirates</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Topping the list is Tim Clark, CEO of Emirates. He has been outspoken in accusing the Malaysians of covering up the truth about what happened to MH-370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014. In March of this year, he told Reuters the Malaysians had to know where the plane went because airlines have access to a "second-by-second flight path". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Someone from Emirates operations desk ought to send a memo to the boss, because out of radar range, the most conscientious carriers get position reports on a frequency of every several minutes not seconds, and that includes the planes in his own long haul fleet.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Andreas Lubitz photo socialchannel.it</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Granted, <span style="line-height: 18.4px;">Carsten Spohr, CEO Lufthansa </span>had to be stupefied on learning that GermanWings first officer Andreas Lubitz had commandeered a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf and flown it into the French Alps in March 2015, killing all 150 onboard. The young pilot had suspended his flight training due to a severe depressive episode, and was required to get regular medical reviews. So whatever possessed Spohr to tell reporters the day after the crash, "There was never the slightest restriction on his
competence and skills. He would seem to be fit in all areas." </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>O'Leary at a news conference in New York</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Keeping track of the crazy comments of RyanAir's Michael O'Leary is a full-time job, don't expect me to keep up. I did note his total disdain of even the flight safety basics. A proponent of standing-room-only flights, he's perturbed about the requirement that passengers buckle up when hurtling through the sky. "<a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-uncomfortable-collision-of-facts-for.html" target="_blank">Seatbelts don't matter</a>," he said in 2012, data to the contrary be damned. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Among O'Leary's many colorful comments is his characterization of the irksome safety professionals obstructing his big plans. "They're all a bunch of plonkers," he said. A quick check of the dictionary for the meaning of this British-ism shows me its got several, some not suitable for family reading (that O'Leary!). But it can be used to describe an idiot and who better than O'Leary to prove the point that it takes one to know one. </span></div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-27957129374666427612015-10-26T17:07:00.000-04:002015-11-09T11:22:25.264-05:00Don’t Be Spooked if 787 Battery Box is a Smoky Cauldron <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaFmz33xXHXyysxr1dXaNqMWl15J3OEk8mPfRGuRRmfmygj_4w9aGTzdIB6KC_0zQf-KbZ21zcLBx2H8qD3LxdfUDhbxQhHxtxgIYr0SXD-68SduNbT48gkcxFlcEFmQc5E6S7caq1PIg/s1600/Dreamliner+ANA+in+Japan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaFmz33xXHXyysxr1dXaNqMWl15J3OEk8mPfRGuRRmfmygj_4w9aGTzdIB6KC_0zQf-KbZ21zcLBx2H8qD3LxdfUDhbxQhHxtxgIYr0SXD-68SduNbT48gkcxFlcEFmQc5E6S7caq1PIg/s320/Dreamliner+ANA+in+Japan.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Note: This post has been updated with new information from TUI Arkefly.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Two years ago, episodes of smoking and sputtering lithium
ion batteries on two Boeing Dreamliners were so horrifying the entire fleet
was grounded for months and the design was the subject of three safety
investigations. But a mysterious transition has occurred, as if a
spell had been put on the folks responsible for safe skies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Just in time for Halloween and as <a href="http://gizmodo.com/faa-is-doing-nothing-about-continued-boeing-dreamliner-1738751945" target="_blank">I reported for Gizmodo</a>,
in the 18 months since Boeing was forced to confine its devilish batteries to a
stainless steel housing so the plane could fly again, several more have
misbehaved, emitting smoke and leading to at least one emergency landing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A Qatar 787 at the gate in Doha in 2014</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And yet, as swift as a witch on a broomstick, the cobalt
oxide lithium ion battery tricks have flown from nightmare to “non-event” according to
Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Non-event" or not, Boeing opted to report one instance to the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. That was the
diversion of a Qatar Airways 787 on October 4, 2014. The plane maker provided the
information under a <span style="line-height: 115%;">program intended to encourage the “industry to
share significant safety related information.” The government incites disclosure by
promising details won’t be shared with nosy reporters like me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;">News of the battery-related diversion came to me
from someone outside the government who is familiar with the goblins of the
787’s power storage system and who told me that the problem in October was not
the first since the boxes were installed, which I knew, nor was it the most
recent, which I did not know. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8SisXVoqdjnNWCRniG_H3pnGBZv14k4T_JkRdECwbRzshCZa2BTOXy95-meadMVV71E6dwKCrRWQ-ABrHqshsGHW8ppnkaeulfswrX3amBc1GvDUCdluhzARBN4FrfHLu7aCM-UqKsU/s1600/P1110075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg8SisXVoqdjnNWCRniG_H3pnGBZv14k4T_JkRdECwbRzshCZa2BTOXy95-meadMVV71E6dwKCrRWQ-ABrHqshsGHW8ppnkaeulfswrX3amBc1GvDUCdluhzARBN4FrfHLu7aCM-UqKsU/s320/P1110075.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Not a 787, but a TUI 737 in Oslo</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 115%;">According to this person, who prefers to remain
in the shadows, a 787 lithium ion ship battery went haywire the week before last, on a
European operator of the 787. I believed and originally reported here that this was the Dutch carrier </span><a href="http://www.tui.nl/vliegtickets/ustravelers/" style="line-height: 18.4px;" target="_blank">Arkefly</a>, part of Germany's <a href="http://www.tuigroup.com/en-en" style="line-height: 115%;" target="_blank">TUI</a>. But several days after sending questions to their public relations office, <span style="line-height: 115%;">spokesperson </span>Kuzey Alexander Esener, told me, "TUI did not experience any battery issue on its 787 aircraft." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;">Boeing won’t answer any of my questions about
Qatar’s problem (and there may have been two, the one the FAA confirmed in
October, and a previous one in April) or about the one I was told occurred last
week; a curiously defensive position if in fact, this is no big deal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "showcard gothic"; line-height: 18.4px;">Don’t be afraid</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">, the FAA says. If the containment box handles the discharge of smoke and fumes, then it
will have “confirmed the effectiveness of the new battery and battery system
design.” That’s what Brown told me. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;">Well naturally this made me wonder, <i>how do they know</i>
the effectiveness of the box or the extent of the damage to the battery since
neither the FAA nor the NTSB conducted an investigation? They know, Brown told me because Boeing
looked into the matter and said everything was okay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The 787 assembly plant in South Carolina</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;">Well, how many other events have there been? I asked
Brown to which I received this word-parsing reply. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;">“The redesigned 787 battery
system has performed as designed during <u>all battery events to date</u>.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">"All battery events"? Okay, so what are the others? I decided to try my question again.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“Has the FAA been notified of </span><u style="line-height: 115%;">any other</u><span style="line-height: 115%;"> battery events beyond the
JAL in January 2014 and the Qatar event in </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">October</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As certain as </span>poltergeists continuing to tinker with Boeing's<span style="line-height: 115%;"> battery cells, Brown’s reply was predictably non responsive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“</span>Christine,
we don’t consider something an ‘event’ if it performs as designed.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When Boeing announced with a <i>abracadabra</i>!
That its engineering wizardry had solved the problem that had fifty 787s
earthbound for four months in 2013, it might not have been apparent to the flying public
just what that fix would look like but now we know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Deep in the bowels of the Dreamliner; inside the box
into which the plane’s lithium ion batteries are packed, the cells can boil, boil, toil
and trouble, but travelers have no reason to fear.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You decide if that’s a
trick or a treat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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P {line-height: 22px; font-family: Georgia, Arial; text-indent: 0;}
</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-217772281054432722015-10-10T17:55:00.000-04:002015-10-10T17:55:15.009-04:00Passion but Few Tears in Amsterdam for Airliners That Fly into the Past <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Too often air travel is an antiseptic experience for the passenger as we sit in
tile-floored, waiting rooms, our heads down and our minds in cyberspace. It is so rare and so thrilling to actually smell the jet fuel
and hear the whine of the engines at the few airports that still encourage a love of
the journey. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is one of them and it's the perfect place to reflect on commercial aviation's first century since KLM Royal Dutch is, at 96 years old, the oldest airline still in operation under its original name. (And what a nice name it is.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Schiphol Airport embraces everything having to do with airplanes. In the shopping mall/food court/check in area called Schiphol Plaza, a widebody jet engine and landing gear are on display next to the airplane-themed gift shop which yields valuable retail space to an airplane cabin turned theater. Inside, comfortably relaxed on those wider original airplane seats, one can watch the historic footage of airplanes and pioneering aviators without spending a cent. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQnIclSYHPoZ-hxtawn-XrbprcFjfQLqU_5Mh251tYCVcNS58SqEm680LXqrkfAhuZZJ5b9P_2aSBKY9yu610GReXOcaUDDXSq-ygvJjDQUWuopW6fy_rsa3XIFl59RYxE_SS6byditUg/s1600/20151010_112141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQnIclSYHPoZ-hxtawn-XrbprcFjfQLqU_5Mh251tYCVcNS58SqEm680LXqrkfAhuZZJ5b9P_2aSBKY9yu610GReXOcaUDDXSq-ygvJjDQUWuopW6fy_rsa3XIFl59RYxE_SS6byditUg/s320/20151010_112141.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We start with the Wright brothers and Louis Bleroit and within minutes we are treated to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the arrival of the A380 and the Dreamliner. This film is perfect preamble to a wander up and out onto the Panorama deck overlooking the gates where the world's jetliners await their next
departure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dozens of spectators were there on Saturday morning; local families, travelers and
notably a big crowd of Dutch plane spotters armed with with binoculars, cameras,
notebooks and the Dutch Scramble, a listing of the global airline fleet by
registration number. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Uh huh, they got it bad.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12.8px;">From left, Kruijt, Smith and Goebel at Schiphol Airport</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I chatted up Ben Smith and Willem Goebel, both retired and Pascal Kruijt, who must fit his passion into a life that still includes regular employment in horticulture. I'm not sure how he does it, considering he has traveled from Australia to the U.S.A. stalking tail numbers to add to his lengthy database. While in America in 1998, on a tour specifically for wing nuts, he was able to visit the tower at Chicago's Midway. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm not trying to call Pascal out or anything, but when I asked him if he was at Schiphol on Friday - presumably a work day - when Finnair's new <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.nl/2015/07/beauty-takes-runway-on-a350-tour-just.html" target="_blank">Airbus A350</a> arrived on a post-delivery flight, he grinned and affirmed that he was there.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Finnair's new A350 lands in Helsinki Photo by Antti Lehto</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“It was beautiful, it was special," he told me filling me in on the details, since I arrived in Holland too late to see it myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was special flight, it arrived in Helsinki last Wednesday
and the first flight was to here." Unfortunately, Amsterdam won't see Finnair's newest jumbo often, the airplane is scheduled to begin flying the route from Helsinki to Shanghai beginning November 21. Three more from the nineteen A350s ordered by Finnair are expected to enter service in 2015. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In with the new and out with the old, seems to be the way it plays with these three aviation aficionados. Amsterdam is one of the few remaining airports where the Boeing 747 can still be found in number and KLM has no plans to retire them anytime soon, according to spokeswoman Lisette Ebeling-Koning. But one does have to wonder how much longer they'll fly and whether these men would shed any tears when the last Queen of the Sky departs Amsterdam. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjscChqptosPw9llqK7yFGLTXfxJcgBGY0IaUSiEWToUSPTv-uzlXayU63IPLCexCg6BfJyLRPjweOOsfdDRJI5qGU8pDuzC5d9rjquQoea2B3E9uJEmHaMaW1FBilTckYFRSuwmUUdQl8/s1600/20151010_112426.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjscChqptosPw9llqK7yFGLTXfxJcgBGY0IaUSiEWToUSPTv-uzlXayU63IPLCexCg6BfJyLRPjweOOsfdDRJI5qGU8pDuzC5d9rjquQoea2B3E9uJEmHaMaW1FBilTckYFRSuwmUUdQl8/s320/20151010_112426.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"No," Willem Goebel said without pausing. "</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The new technology is much better and cheaper to use," he said reminding me that four-engine planes are a thing of the past. "We must go smaller," he said and Ben Smith and Pascal nodded in agreement. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fearful of diverting their attention for too long, I left the plane spotters to their busy day while I climbed up into the KLM cityhopper airliner parked out on the observation deck and open for visitors. This was not just any airliner, either, but a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fokker 100, a Dutch-manufactured plane that was once a regular in fleets around the world, but now like many others, it is a shell of its former self, and a reminder of the ceaseless course of progress. Binoculars raised to their eyes, the plane spotters keep a watch out for the next new thing. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From left, Kruijt, Smith and Goebel at Schiphol Airport</i></td></tr>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-9742403230642125562015-09-16T13:12:00.000-04:002015-09-16T13:33:11.164-04:00The Eye Opening Experience of Passing out at 25K<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eiZpqPw_4LNuNIUnb21v3L0GY_H1SutQv4axWDpYfJkQAWtSVO1-XJrml2WJ37Z04rXhhcvBQh4azpryLgzD5q5nkU3ktzM5rUhSXgKH8pHymWNB8AiS3reNnjkRIgTY9HYbs5CYXyc/s1600/EVA+Air+hypoxia+training.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6eiZpqPw_4LNuNIUnb21v3L0GY_H1SutQv4axWDpYfJkQAWtSVO1-XJrml2WJ37Z04rXhhcvBQh4azpryLgzD5q5nkU3ktzM5rUhSXgKH8pHymWNB8AiS3reNnjkRIgTY9HYbs5CYXyc/s320/EVA+Air+hypoxia+training.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Instructor Ron Diedrichs with EVA cadets</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You got to hand it to the folks at Taiwan’s EVA Airlines
they’re taking the hypoxia threat seriously. Each of its pilot cadets learning
to fly airliners at the University of North Dakota’s Mesa, Arizona flight training center will take a ride in a hypobaric chamber before leaving the USA to
go back to Taipei and fly the airline’s big jets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nearly a decade ago, air
safety officials in Greece suggested that that all airline pilots undergo
hypoxia training, following the loss of a Boeing 737 on a flight from
Cyprus to Athens that killed 121 people on August 14, 2005. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Neither the captain nor the first officer on Helios Flight
522 understood that the airliner was not pressurizing after takeoff from Larnaca, nor did they comprehend the meaning of the warning horn that triggered
when the cabin altitude passed 14,000 feet. For this reason, the men did not put
on their masks or descend to a lower altitude. 13 minutes after takeoff, both
pilots were unconscious and the plane continued on auto pilot until running out
of fuel and crashing near Athens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFVYV4IfYZAuxPycjAD-cG2tTuWiuYYPN1ChUXLe0w1WmTAp33eLGSlVHf-Syru9poo6kSWAAm288R41v5uCHxRS_8s52mIi66hrDXF2SMEx0W7cmqNmltn33dvdTuA7kZSWO5Ebn68o/s1600/Helios+wreckage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFVYV4IfYZAuxPycjAD-cG2tTuWiuYYPN1ChUXLe0w1WmTAp33eLGSlVHf-Syru9poo6kSWAAm288R41v5uCHxRS_8s52mIi66hrDXF2SMEx0W7cmqNmltn33dvdTuA7kZSWO5Ebn68o/s320/Helios+wreckage.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wreckage of Helios 522 near Athens Greek AAIASB photo</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There’s more drama, more complexity and more controversy associated
with this compelling story which you can read about in my book, <i>Lost and
Confounded</i> when it is published by <a href="http://www.penguin.com/" target="_blank">Penguin</a> next Spring. But shamelessly promoting my book isn’t the
point of this post though it may be a side benefit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Loss of pressurization in high altitude air transport is no black swan event according to Jim Stabile Jr. of <a href="https://vimeo.com/43032929" target="_blank">Aeronautical Data Systems</a>. He's been crunching the numbers and has found that rapid de-pressurization incidents occur at a rate of from once a week (using numbers from Australia and New Zealand) and de-pressurization events of all kind happen even more frequently. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The NASA anonymous reporting system, which
encompasses all decompression, shows "an average rate of 1 every 3 days," Stabile told me. </span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCsrY01UCy_PGd0Mj6GznQprrUambrA_REcEWfq0eRZc4t54Ojd5ymq6dMmi3wJcDu6aJGbUdM6DAruE8QOH6qxC9OsaKembb2RCwRflB3zuX87Mccwzp66on0mit6eVUAFyufLNQnkc/s1600/Heathrow+%252829%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiCsrY01UCy_PGd0Mj6GznQprrUambrA_REcEWfq0eRZc4t54Ojd5ymq6dMmi3wJcDu6aJGbUdM6DAruE8QOH6qxC9OsaKembb2RCwRflB3zuX87Mccwzp66on0mit6eVUAFyufLNQnkc/s320/Heathrow+%252829%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ten years ago, the Greeks investigating the Helios disaster
were concerned that the debilitating effects of oxygen deprivation were not appreciated
by many pilots, creating an air safety risk. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Military aviators undergo regular sessions in
altitude chambers where they experience what it feels like to be in the
oxygen-thin air at flight levels where they will be flying. This familiarity
with the symptoms of the onset of hypoxia help them respond in a timely manner
if they should ever find themselves in an unpressurized airplane. The Greeks wondered, would civilian pilots
benefit from hypoxia testing?</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The practice of “<a href="http://poly.engineering.asu.edu/aviation/hac/training/" target="_blank">chamber flights</a>” is not without its
detractors. Because it is, by its nature, staged and highly controlled, with
operators standing by ready to press a mask onto the face of wobbly
participants, pilots may believe the situation is manageable. Mitch Garber an
aerospace physician formerly with the National Transportation Safety Board says
hypoxia training that relies on giving pilots a chamber experience so they can
then self-identify is akin to relying on people who drink to say they are too
drunk to drive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“You’re in no shape to judge with hypoxia,” he told me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since a healthy chunk of </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lost and Confounded</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> details my theory
of pilot incapacitation by hypoxia on MH-370, I thought it important to experience
altitude sickness myself. This is how I happened to be in a classroom with two
dozen EVA Airline student pilots in the <a href="http://poly.engineering.asu.edu/aviation/hac/training/" target="_blank">Arizona State University’s high altitude chamber</a> last week. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now that it is over, I can say Dr. Garber is correct on one
front. Nothing about a contrived experience, intended to protect our health as
well as give us mild oxygen starvation is comparable to what it must have been
like on the MH-370 flight deck on March 8, 2014. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First, the Malaysia Airlines
Boeing 777 was flying at 35,000 feet - significantly higher in real distance
and speed of hypoxia onset than the testing chamber at 25,000 feet. Second, those pilots didn’t know it was
coming. We did. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifa6sQdEeXzCrKOXeAiOY7mQxedcMz4in1OksYWKjoxGAxcPOe7o5pMSFo_MshWkSw4XFXOM-dW9kAlXJOZcR4dvNMAP6GHH2FIq0DEIUWmUE4_uK3MWADBSfaOMKm_WUl6HcSXBUboSw/s1600/20150902_135624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifa6sQdEeXzCrKOXeAiOY7mQxedcMz4in1OksYWKjoxGAxcPOe7o5pMSFo_MshWkSw4XFXOM-dW9kAlXJOZcR4dvNMAP6GHH2FIq0DEIUWmUE4_uK3MWADBSfaOMKm_WUl6HcSXBUboSw/s400/20150902_135624.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Facts and figure before the chamber flight</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before entering the chamber we spent 4 hours looking into every
nook and cranny of the phenomenon. The only question in our minds was how would
we react? Faced with a sudden and dramatic decompression on MH-370 the pilots’
would be barraged with many questions the first of which had to be “What the
hell just happened?” and only seconds to react.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Still, as EVA’s student pilots and I removed our masks for
our five minute dabble with symptoms there was a sense of foreboding. Could
something so intangible, so potentially blissful really steal our ability to
think? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCz0OaHVP-_dyzYo0pxqfEvFPrws8tiR6L61CWwYDRZQaHF_2PPab45Q1l8ppcq3aYZeHiJfNI7zzl2KNFvsu7nzlkGl14ugYIveNzJJDTsL5Ldv77bnlmc8L_Ze7hUbswWu-TSq-D99g/s1600/DSC00040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCz0OaHVP-_dyzYo0pxqfEvFPrws8tiR6L61CWwYDRZQaHF_2PPab45Q1l8ppcq3aYZeHiJfNI7zzl2KNFvsu7nzlkGl14ugYIveNzJJDTsL5Ldv77bnlmc8L_Ze7hUbswWu-TSq-D99g/s320/DSC00040.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>EVA cadets work on math problems at 25,000 feet</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At 25,000 feet the time of useful consciousness for healthy
non-smokers is several minutes. With that in mind, I eagerly started on my
paperwork which included writing my name, doing some math problems, working on
a maze and listing my symptoms as I experienced them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Across from me, some of the young Taiwanese pilots were also
scribbling answers but others were just looking around grinning. (Luis) Shih-Chieh Lu
told me he felt like he was drunk. While (Josh) Yuchuan Chen said - with some disappointment - that he
really hadn’t felt too different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I was hoping for the euphoria, giddiness and feeling
of well-being that gives hypoxia the nickname, “the happy death” when the
shortage of oxygen did start to affect me, my symptoms did not meet my
expectation. It was a totally unpleasant experience. I felt nauseous, blackness in my peripheral vision,
out of breath and very, very flush. After
about one minute, my breathing was labored. My head lolling started after about
2 minutes in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After two and a half minutes, all I could do was muster
enough energy to push the talk button on my microphone and complain, “Hot” to
the folks outside the box controlling the air conditioning. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That was it for me because the next thing I knew I woke up
with an oxygen mask on and worried faces were turned in my direction. I’d
been out for about half a minute. </span></div>
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</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sBU4hinkyvPupxqDbKwfuQlnGrYDKE8NtRm66vlMa4gLdGIjsCP-Yy1li_Q3O1_jrMK7gJoyDiAACQm3hs-rYBWaqxGh_KSgycOeKdll6lXN3ts4l9OtR2r2JPxd_GBmgQtSKjMagRA/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sBU4hinkyvPupxqDbKwfuQlnGrYDKE8NtRm66vlMa4gLdGIjsCP-Yy1li_Q3O1_jrMK7gJoyDiAACQm3hs-rYBWaqxGh_KSgycOeKdll6lXN3ts4l9OtR2r2JPxd_GBmgQtSKjMagRA/s320/Capture.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Before and after 2.5 minutes at 25K</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Killing the journalist wasn’t the way <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/robert-garner/54/507/8b1" target="_blank">Robert Garner</a>, the chamber director expected the day to end nor was it my goal
when I flew across the country for this hands-on lesson. Happily not dead, the
day ended just fine. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many of the students said they also anticipated more
drama in the chamber but Dr. Garner
insists this training is not about experiencing drama, happy or otherwise and
it isn’t about seeing how long one can remain off mask. It is about learning to
recognizing the individual early warning signs of oxygen deprivation so those
in command of airliners can act fast and act right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Hopefully they remember their symptoms, what
were the really big keys for them, that’s what you want,” Garner said. After a few days thinking about it, Yuchuan told me that was his take-away. </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0hZiWzMENGIFVAglerhyTC_xc8pFwqjUl4nlmMsB397OIoAlgGSo6k7BozaKYS7JzKOU65ezakO66ZKufHzbNkUVdpzfzFgDoH8PD-zZREmSLW4ndudPszRGUgQf8oPHySKMwhULM_k/s1600/DSC00057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib0hZiWzMENGIFVAglerhyTC_xc8pFwqjUl4nlmMsB397OIoAlgGSo6k7BozaKYS7JzKOU65ezakO66ZKufHzbNkUVdpzfzFgDoH8PD-zZREmSLW4ndudPszRGUgQf8oPHySKMwhULM_k/s320/DSC00057.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Garner (R), Diedrich and Gayla Marsh supervise the chamber</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<span style="line-height: 115%;">This
high altitude chamber training experience is quite helpful to the pilot
training because we could make a more instant response," he told me, now that his experience has taught him to be properly cautious about the risks associated with high altitude flight. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When the safety hazard is an invisible thief of capable of
stealing a pilot’s ability to be alarmed, pilots need to know in advance to be
very afraid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
<style type="text/css">
P {line-height: 22px; font-family: Georgia, Arial; text-indent: 0;}
</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-9018892612564225572015-09-09T08:40:00.000-04:002015-09-09T08:40:00.788-04:00Mud Stud or Desk Detective, Two Seminars for Air Crash Analysis <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUZbZScKTvxIua6z-ekseiGUBvo17GL3voopTen8WgEdU3AlS0NtcU7uOd3GtNHOBHaZ3a4N3cIH1gW43GJvtWnyFGzK0zvyxBijnxpLSYo2gcFxq4tXxJvv_zahiHdcVC7-roWirMFc/s1600/Platnium+Jet+Management+teteroboro+crash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBUZbZScKTvxIua6z-ekseiGUBvo17GL3voopTen8WgEdU3AlS0NtcU7uOd3GtNHOBHaZ3a4N3cIH1gW43GJvtWnyFGzK0zvyxBijnxpLSYo2gcFxq4tXxJvv_zahiHdcVC7-roWirMFc/s320/Platnium+Jet+Management+teteroboro+crash.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Platinum Jet crash at Teterboro in 2005</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who is an air crash investigator? On those television
documentaries, there’s always some government sleuth who cracks the case with
extraordinary tenaciousness and a lot of taxpayer money to spend on labs, test
flights and reconstructions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The ever-popular NBC News commentator and Greg
Feith usually makes an appearance, which gives me a chance to remind my readers
that his nickname is “the Mud Stud” picked up during the ValueJet crash of
1996. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotZ1MlX89YOTkY_ALt5B9fILncRqOS4D2Ax4y65hY5tENUIGBCvdLXJUjQHFZZkI3WpTMnfclLKRrGxi2pLqVnchiC2gZwt0BmJKVkLZXh1lfOorhDkWUEdhQpvtdZn40PqUc0i-XBn8/s1600/Bob+Benzon.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiotZ1MlX89YOTkY_ALt5B9fILncRqOS4D2Ax4y65hY5tENUIGBCvdLXJUjQHFZZkI3WpTMnfclLKRrGxi2pLqVnchiC2gZwt0BmJKVkLZXh1lfOorhDkWUEdhQpvtdZn40PqUc0i-XBn8/s320/Bob+Benzon.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bob Benzon appears on Aircrash Confidential</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bob Benzon, Bob MacIntosh, and other folks not named Bob but but with
experience working for a government accident bureau are also featured. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Having spent eight years heading up the investigation
department of the American aviation law firm, <a href="http://www.kreindler.com/" target="_blank">Kreindler & Kreindler</a>, I’d
like to add that there are lots of non-officials who also try to figure out
what happens after an air accident. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In fact in my upcoming book, <i>Lost and Confounded</i>, an entire section is devoted to the non-official,
in some cases armchair investigators who challenged the probable cause reports
in some very controversial crashes including the Air New Zealand Mt. Erebus disaster
in 1979 and the Eastern Airlines <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Final-Destination-Disaster-Happened-Airlines/dp/0989452964">flight
into terrain at Mt. Illimani in 1985</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg75I4pWZ0RP7L501bDwdYXC3yVkniZtDDe-IIUWqvsW5IyJX-YetLyMD7SbooJsxawJW9bEdgzXe783iPjh60THyyL8Kxj4rjmdwXOqmd3g6E0baLbYHlI5tpuKgJKPF64aE6bvse4yVQ/s1600/erebus-blizzard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg75I4pWZ0RP7L501bDwdYXC3yVkniZtDDe-IIUWqvsW5IyJX-YetLyMD7SbooJsxawJW9bEdgzXe783iPjh60THyyL8Kxj4rjmdwXOqmd3g6E0baLbYHlI5tpuKgJKPF64aE6bvse4yVQ/s320/erebus-blizzard.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of us learn from each other. Conferences like the annual
seminar put on by the International Society of Air Safety Investigators are
great for sharing. Here are two other
upcoming events that sound pretty darned interesting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.rtiforensics.com/news-events/avicon">AViCON</a>,
a two day conference for legal and insurance professionals – focusing on
safety, investigations and claims starts tomorrow in Stevensville, Maryland.
NTSB Chairman Chris Hart will be there and I’m pretty sure RTI Forensics,
sponsor of the event is going to show off some of their high-tech tools. I know
this is last minute, but if you are interested, I’m sure the folks at RTI will
squeeze you in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/134668818">https://vimeo.com/134668818</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/aeromedical/aai_workshop/" target="_blank">FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Instit<span id="goog_1478684973"></span><span id="goog_1478684974"></span>ute</a> is opening up its fancy pants injury lab for a two-day conference on November 3
and 4. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dennis-f-shanahan-m-d-m-p-h/50/5ba/714" target="_blank">Dennis Shanahan</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/eduard-ricaurte/54/456/22a" target="_blank">Eduard Ricaurte</a>, two of my favorite aerospace physicians will be speaking along with
many others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Plan to learn about the multitude of ways bodies get banged, burned, and otherwise
mangled and what those injuries can can teach the industry about how to do this
flying thing better and safer. Oh and
for those actual on-scene tin-kickers out there, the Injury Mechanism Analysis
Workshop has something for you, a lecture on how to do your job without
becoming a victim yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For more information on the CAMI seminar click <a href="http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/aeromedical/aai_workshop/">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</style>Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-57886548004822612492015-09-08T22:53:00.003-04:002015-09-08T22:53:52.432-04:00A Soprano-Like Shakedown Squeezes Smisek out of United<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51MqFBZEpVEsYBLWl1VjmpYcYwoOhuzVFh7WyVJ31xD1iupLQ0IsYz7NLXFE71ryp3rZ58J7FVBqP3k53GpMxmvxb_yiY1kXV2ghiFy9yMWceoGGLNGTIO2wztt4RJ-9eKiU_1qsrhpQ/s1600/Star+Alliance+Copa+handout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51MqFBZEpVEsYBLWl1VjmpYcYwoOhuzVFh7WyVJ31xD1iupLQ0IsYz7NLXFE71ryp3rZ58J7FVBqP3k53GpMxmvxb_yiY1kXV2ghiFy9yMWceoGGLNGTIO2wztt4RJ-9eKiU_1qsrhpQ/s200/Star+Alliance+Copa+handout.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jeff Smisek in happier days</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
United's boss Jeff Smisek resigned from the airline today, as a probe continues into whether he and other top executives agreed to provide favors for a government official in New Jersey.<br />
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In a statement, United says it has been cooperating with a federal investigation and in fact, that the airline had conducted its own probe into whether David Samson of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey demanded the airline reopen a route to Columbia, South Carolina in exchange for the go-ahead on several airport projects at Newark Liberty International Airport.<br />
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As <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/the-dinner-proposal-that-led-united-into-corruption-probe" target="_blank">reported by Bloomberg</a> in April, the story reads like an plot from the hit TV mob show, The Sopranos. Samson promised when he became the top dog at the <a href="http://www.panynj.gov/" target="_blank">PANYNJ</a> that he would "use the Port Authority as an engine for economic development and jobs in New Jersey." Instead he seems to have been more motivated to use his position as an engine to enhance his personal convenience. And conveyance. <br />
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In a dinner meeting with Smisek in September 2011 and reported by the New Jersey newspaper The Record, Sampson complained about the 150 mile drive from Charlotte to his vacation home in South Carolina. Why didn't United just reinstate the Columbia flight it cancelled in 2009, he reportedly asked the airline boss.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_x8uDurS_DOjSUM66Q7XelY7-qLHFm21ndpV8ywfpK25uEkjBOHO7YzEsxj6FzSIzeB4OKbSyFVSZfdWmPnFriRyGxe7jqdSeuGzHP5RhBT1bhCeNKJZLVIGaMBgY4TmjZVukUtD5cDE/s1600/P1050588-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_x8uDurS_DOjSUM66Q7XelY7-qLHFm21ndpV8ywfpK25uEkjBOHO7YzEsxj6FzSIzeB4OKbSyFVSZfdWmPnFriRyGxe7jqdSeuGzHP5RhBT1bhCeNKJZLVIGaMBgY4TmjZVukUtD5cDE/s320/P1050588-001.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
United had several very big ticket projects at Newark that it wanted approval for including the development of a rail link from downtown Manhattan to the airport, a wide-body maintenance center and terminal improvements. There must have been some heavy duty number crunching by the airline after the dinner bill was paid. How much would it cost to open a route previously considered unprofitable to accommodate one VIP traveler and his wife? How much greasing of the wheels would it be worth? <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVLj6ukPoBVTFXjxNKKSsDFNups28r6gI2xDYmPaJvsMPd9Yrt4GWEvC8uadmyI2TGlFpoQJ29_84V0dEXwaGQJT_W90ZTEbvmSD9mDFa4qp4lB_sU-cVXuDZO1CPt7pJrnwQlbcs2Kw/s1600/Newark+%252811%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVLj6ukPoBVTFXjxNKKSsDFNups28r6gI2xDYmPaJvsMPd9Yrt4GWEvC8uadmyI2TGlFpoQJ29_84V0dEXwaGQJT_W90ZTEbvmSD9mDFa4qp4lB_sU-cVXuDZO1CPt7pJrnwQlbcs2Kw/s320/Newark+%252811%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Waiting area at Newark Airport</i></td></tr>
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The math must not have added up because the flight dubbed the "chairman's flight" didn't happen immediately. In the story reported by David Voreacos and David Kocieniewski, Samson seems to have continued to put the squeeze on United, tabling agenda items the airline wanted considered by the Port Authority. Once United started offering twice weekly service to Columbia, wouldn't you know United started seeing green lights for its development plans.<br />
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Corrupt politicians can be found anywhere, so I should not be surprised. Especially considering Samson's patron is Governor <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/01/leery-of-oleary-ryanairs-charm.html" target="_blank">Chris Christie</a>, a candidate for president linked with the George Washington Bridge-gate scandal of 2013, and also because of how the New York area airports fail to stack up compared to other international airports I've traveled through. The <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2013/09/baffling-delay-on-jfk-airport-hotels.html" target="_blank">Port Authority's dysfunction</a> is obvious to anyone who travels by air.<br />
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Frankly, when you read the details of the shakedown, its hard not to feel sorry for Smisek. Airline executives often complain that when it comes to the government, they are either being scolded or ignored. The lesson is that if you treat an industry like a naughty child you might just get the bad behavior that goes along with it.<br />
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-80111113788948683042015-08-19T17:00:00.001-04:002015-11-10T07:40:34.404-05:00Aviation Reveals the Mystery of Human Resiliency<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy43_Qal3NCaa_O6wyEdOSdS2yn2FOPMmX40hao9C9yC5ZIEBr7scSmExzuL-ugXOddw_Zk3Q2hMFhmBA0E71OK3Fh2D6UuCV-BtjBQj6HzzqSoTLGGKu6t3Cf79Txc9owbx7bUSBzSvw/s1600/Thomas+Selfridge+with+Orville+Wright.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy43_Qal3NCaa_O6wyEdOSdS2yn2FOPMmX40hao9C9yC5ZIEBr7scSmExzuL-ugXOddw_Zk3Q2hMFhmBA0E71OK3Fh2D6UuCV-BtjBQj6HzzqSoTLGGKu6t3Cf79Txc9owbx7bUSBzSvw/s320/Thomas+Selfridge+with+Orville+Wright.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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One month before Orville Wright's birthday (which we
remember today on National Aviation day) he was injured in a plane crash while
demonstrating the Wright Flyer to the U.S. Army in Ft. Myers, Virginia with Lt. Thomas
E. Selfridge on board. </div>
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On their fifth circuit of the field, the Flyer’s right propeller
broke unleashing a cascade of other problems that caused the plane to nose dive.
Selfridge, a pilot and airplane designer was killed. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There is little doubt in my mind that these aviation
pioneers understood the risks associated with taking to the sky. Of the
uncertainties for aviation pioneers, Wilbur Wright wrote this beautiful
warning; "If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to
sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must
mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial." <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is a lesson for life itself, as so much of aviation is. Today I am thinking about this risk/benefit
analysis as I work on the last section of my forthcoming book Lost & Confounded, because I am closing in
on the most uplifting (yes, pun IS intended) section of a manuscript filled
with mystery, conspiracy and fallibility in the world of aviation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVM_d01-1Vp1bMn4_Z9eSGb-6JakSiQMZYphSFEy1uEJG73QVP3yfwmidDxhNMas56ADK2UORkNfiRy3a_U4BSxlEaN0PlKtCbwd3AHBaiks4BTSz5kM77M0YQ3wmiw9PL9OzKFjasDos/s1600/Human+Contribution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVM_d01-1Vp1bMn4_Z9eSGb-6JakSiQMZYphSFEy1uEJG73QVP3yfwmidDxhNMas56ADK2UORkNfiRy3a_U4BSxlEaN0PlKtCbwd3AHBaiks4BTSz5kM77M0YQ3wmiw9PL9OzKFjasDos/s320/Human+Contribution.jpg" width="200" /></a>But under the heading of resiliency, you will read about people
who turned near-certain catastrophe on its head; pilots who drew on their uniquely human
capacity to respond to novel events with novel solutions, pilots who reversed bad fortune
and saved the day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I was inspired to explore this subject by James Reason. You know
him, the father of human factors who in adorable self-deprecation refers to
himself as the guru on “human as hazard”. Human can also be hero which is the message of his 2008 book, The Human Contribution. But don’t take our word for it.
Read for yourself in the thumbnails below. The full stories will be included in <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2014/05/writing-book-on-mh-370-first-virtual.html" target="_blank">Lost & Confounded</a> when it is published by <a href="http://www.penguin.com/" target="_blank">Penguin</a> next Spring. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>British Airways Flight 38 Capt. Peter Burkill First Officer
John Coward January 17, 2008</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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After an otherwise uneventful 10-hour flight, the Boeing 777
from Peking experiences double engine failure on final approach to Heathrow at
about 500 feet. Coward was flying the plane and Burkill who could see houses
below, followed by highway and radar towers at the end of the runway has just seconds
to decide what to do. He considers raising the landing gear to reduce drag but decides
no, the gear will help absorb impact on landing. With 15 seconds left, he moves
the flaps from the landing setting of 30 degrees to 25 degrees to reduce drag and get the plane beyond the last of the obstructions, but it was a gamble. “I remember holding
the lever” he said, hesitating for a moment then making the adjustment and
finding, “the effect was immediate.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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The 777 with 152 people on board slammed into the field just
past the radar array. Burkill’s later calculation was that the maneuver gave
him an additional 51 meters of flight, getting the plane 40 meters ahead of the
radar array when the plane finally hit ground. There were no fatalities. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>American Airlines flight 1740 Capt. Cort Tangeman,
First Officer Laura Strand June 20, 2006</b></div>
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After an overnight flight from Los Angeles to Chicago the
crew realized the landing gear on the MD-80 was not extended and a fly by the
control tower confirmed the problem.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Strand and Tangeman with cabin crew</i></td></tr>
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Tangeman and Strand flew a
box pattern to discuss possible solutions with maintenance. Unfortunately, there was no resolution so on
landing Tangeman decided to stay on the main gear as long as possible without
operating the thrust reversers. "We touched down on the mains and let it
roll," he said.</div>
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When the aluminum skin of the DC-9 finally hit the tarmac
the sound was like "running a Skil saw on a garbage can and we stopped
really fast at the 7500 foot mark, fully loaded with no reversers.” None of the
136 aboard was injured. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Qantas Flight 32 Qantas Capt. Richard de Crespigny, First
Officer Matt Hicks Capt. Harry Wubben, Capt. Dave Evans, (check captains on the
flight) Second Officer Mark Johnson November 4, 2010</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHSk7outzOTbtkdQdEOtjz2jS9ggPUQaVgV18WwgzBxuHFDSdarcOUpWGYio28AayXL-AryIZvhE-HeafIs4tZri2MSfmXUqyalm_os8ZRamSS_pb60tDjaHnh_edNFcr8AiQ1sgl_gA/s1600/QF+32+crew+from+de+Crespigny%2527s+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEHSk7outzOTbtkdQdEOtjz2jS9ggPUQaVgV18WwgzBxuHFDSdarcOUpWGYio28AayXL-AryIZvhE-HeafIs4tZri2MSfmXUqyalm_os8ZRamSS_pb60tDjaHnh_edNFcr8AiQ1sgl_gA/s320/QF+32+crew+from+de+Crespigny%2527s+book.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wubben, Hicks, de Crespigny, Evans and Johnson <br /> photo courtesy de Crespigny</i></td></tr>
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Shortly after takeoff from Singapore’s Changi Airport, an
uncontained engine failure on the number 2 engine of an Airbus A380 sent debris
flying through the wing and into the fuselage. The effect was to cause three of
the jumbo’s four engines to malfunction and that was just the start. </div>
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To a cacophony
of error and advisory messages, the five men <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2010/12/airbus-a380-puts-man-and-machine-on.html" target="_blank">with a combined 76,000 hours of piloting</a> flew for 90 minutes while diagnosing the many
issues and getting a feel for how the plane was handling with a flight control
check. It was this exercise that gave de Crespigny the confidence to continue with
the landing back at Changi as practiced despite speed and stall warnings in the
final seconds. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There were no injuries to any of the 469 people on board. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9133703253863123050.post-55709896930603947002015-08-05T14:53:00.003-04:002015-08-06T12:54:46.385-04:00Wing Flap Should Elevate MH 370 Investigation<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The section of wing found on Reunion Island in the South
Indian Ocean last week came from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, or at least enough of a positive
identification was made today for the Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak to announce he's satisfied.</div>
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While not a surprise to anyone who has seen or read the news
since the part was found on a rocky beach, Razak’s statement is a six
foot bit of certainty in the still-mysterious disappearance of the Boeing 777
on March 8, 2014. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>File photo of the lab in Toulouse (but not the part) </i></td></tr>
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Even the confirmation today is not without equivocation, as Razak says yes, and others say, <i>probably</i>. The Prime Minister sees this as the first positive proof that the plane did crash in the
sea and I'm guessing he's eager to be the one to share the news. That's the only explanation for getting out there ahead of everybody else.<br />
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Behind the suspense, I am told, is the fact that the wing flap’s serial
number is not visible without actually disassembling the part. And no tear
down could proceed without examining and documenting the piece as it
first appeared.</div>
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Since the weekend, engineers and scientists have been
putting together a protocol setting the order of testing before the actual destruction
for purposes of further exam and identification could begin.
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Fingers are crossed that more interesting news will follow,
that news to include what if anything the exam indicated about the flight and
the plane’s impact with the water. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwswV6Oifz1o3Hj9xKPzs9wqNpuOWPWDH9ngFdh7ilqknWi_MNJaRMHNuYE0JXapY_9YHp0OtJaUphGhs0j0bniHEsQCP0Pyfctr6kqJd8-4BBJPkdhz0223N7Jzs99xgLDMYz5tslrGI/s1600/Malaysia+airplane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwswV6Oifz1o3Hj9xKPzs9wqNpuOWPWDH9ngFdh7ilqknWi_MNJaRMHNuYE0JXapY_9YHp0OtJaUphGhs0j0bniHEsQCP0Pyfctr6kqJd8-4BBJPkdhz0223N7Jzs99xgLDMYz5tslrGI/s320/Malaysia+airplane.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>9M-MRO in Los Angeles photo courtesy Jay Davis</i></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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In his statement, the Prime Minister promised families of
victims that the government is “committed to do everything within our means to
find out the truth of what happened.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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That can be talk or that can be action. If the nation’s
leader wants to prove it is the latter he will show the families, the public
and <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/07/egg-heads-unlikely-malaysia-370-heroes.html" target="_blank">all those working on the case</a>, just what his country has learned so far. There’s
a deep well of information <a href="http://christinenegroni.blogspot.com/2015/03/ocean-search-for-mh-370-lets-malaysia.html" target="_blank">right in Malaysia</a> about which we’ve heard very
little.</div>
<br />
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I’m talking about the airplane's maintenance history and all
that intriguing cargo on board. What if anything has been learned about whether
any of the hundreds of cell phones on the plane received or transmitted to
towers as the plane crossed the Malaysian peninsula? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>And for heaven’s sake, what progress has been
made on that perplexing loss of power on the airplane two hours into the flight
and shortly before it turned south for the last time and flew into oblivion?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFXNRcb6oDOYFNNvoTzEO9HKEWpg9W-tYYrn9_CD87vjk-rGbhfh-aYZhqcUgq2qLnJ9930rAsFfqcTFTE6SjLA5fDaZFtRJVGqUor0C__jlgBBuv6AQpgGcZNzFj3bpESTY6eqkTTSc/s1600/MH+370+sympathy+signs+%25283%2529-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRFXNRcb6oDOYFNNvoTzEO9HKEWpg9W-tYYrn9_CD87vjk-rGbhfh-aYZhqcUgq2qLnJ9930rAsFfqcTFTE6SjLA5fDaZFtRJVGqUor0C__jlgBBuv6AQpgGcZNzFj3bpESTY6eqkTTSc/s200/MH+370+sympathy+signs+%25283%2529-001.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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Black boxes are great, wreckage is fine. But not all the clues
reside there. To fulfill the promise Razak reiterated today, the Prime Minister
will pressure his folks to do more and share more. Now that investigators have a
piece of the wing, let’s see how more transparency flies. </div>
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<![endif]-->Christine Negronihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15190247339367487575noreply@blogger.com0